COVID-19: India reports 44,877 new cases; 684 more deaths
What's the story
India on Sunday reported over 44,000 new COVID-19 cases, a decline of around 6,000 cases from the previous day.
The active caseload in the country currently stands at 5,37,045, which accounts for 1.26% of the total cases.
In the past 24 hours, 44,877 new cases and 684 fatalities were reported.
Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 recovery rate has reached 97.55%.
Context
Why does this story matter?
India on Sunday reported 11% fewer COVID-19 cases than the day before.
Both active caseload and daily positivity rate have also been witnessing a rapid decline for the past few days.
Notably, India's daily infection has remained below the one-lakh mark for a week.
This comes after India witnessed a massive spurt in cases in December-end and at the beginning of January.
Statistics
Over 1 lakh patients discharged
According to the Union Health Ministry, India reported a total of 4,26,31,421 COVID-19 cases till Sunday morning, while the death toll reached 5,08,665.
With 1,17,591 fresh discharges, the number of total recoveries climbed to 4,15,85,711.
The daily positivity rate also continues to decline and currently stands at 3.17%.
On the other hand, the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 4.46%.
States
Kerala adds most new cases
Maharashtra reported 4,359 new COVID-19 cases along with 12,986 more recoveries.
Kerala, the second worst-hit state after Maharashtra, reported 15,184 new cases and 38,819 discharges.
The third worst-hit Karnataka added 3,202 fresh cases and 8,988 recoveries.
Tamil Nadu, the fourth worst-hit state, witnessed 2,812 new cases and 11,154 discharges.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh reported 896 new cases and 8,849 recoveries.
Trend
India's second wave peaked on May 7
India's second wave peaked on May 7, 2021, when 4.14 lakh single-day cases were reported, over four times the number of cases reported during the first wave in mid-September 2020.
Although infections declined after the second wave peaked, India crossed the three-crore mark on June 23.
The country crossed the one-crore mark on December 19, 2020, and the two-crore mark on May 4, 2021.
Vaccination
Over 172 crore vaccine doses administered
Till 10 am on Sunday, India administered over 172.7 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses.
Overall, more than 75.3 crore people have been fully vaccinated, while over 95.7 crore people have received one dose.
On Sunday alone, India administered over 38,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses till 10 am, including over 27,000 second doses and over 8,000 first doses, according to Co-WIN.
Data
Over 1.6 crore 'precautionary' doses administered
Meanwhile, India has administered over 1.63 crore "precautionary" doses since January 10. On Sunday, over 1,000 healthcare/frontline workers and over 2,000 elderly people were given the precautionary dose till 10 am.
Recent news
'Vaccination for 5-15 age group as soon as experts recommend'
COVID-19 vaccination for children between five and 15 years of age will begin as soon as the Centre receives recommendations from expert groups, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Saturday.
Mandaviya said no such recommendations have been made so far.
"When to vaccinate and to which age group...is decided on the basis of recommendation of a group of scientists," he said.