COVID-19: India's single-day tally drops to 13,405; 235 deaths reported
India on Monday saw over 13,000 new COVID-19 cases, a decline of nearly 2,500 cases from the previous day. The active caseload in the country currently stands at 1,81,075, which accounts for 0.42% of the total cases. In the past 24 hours, 13,405 new cases and 235 fatalities were reported. Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 recovery rate has reached 98.38%.
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India on Tuesday fewer COVID-19 cases than the day before. Notably, India has been witnessing a sharp decline in cases over the past few weeks. Meanwhile, the virus-related deaths have also been reducing in the past few weeks. This comes after India witnessed a massive spurt in cases due to the highly contagious Omicron variant of coronavirus.
Over 34,000 patients discharged
According to the Union Health Ministry, India reported a total of 4,28,51,929 COVID-19 cases till Tuesday morning, while the death toll reached 5,12,344. With 34,226 fresh discharges, the number of total recoveries climbed to 4,21,58,510. Meanwhile, the daily positivity rate continued to record a declining trend and currently stands at 1.24%. Separately, the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 1.98%.
Kerala adds most new cases
Maharashtra reported 806 new COVID-19 cases along with 2,696 more recoveries. Kerala, the second worst-hit state after Maharashtra, reported 4,069 new cases and 11,026 discharges. The third worst-hit Karnataka added 679 fresh cases and 1,932 recoveries. Tamil Nadu, the fourth worst-hit state, witnessed 788 new cases and 2,692 discharges. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh reported 182 new cases and 950 recoveries.
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.
Over 175 crore vaccine doses administered
Till 10 am on Tuesday, India administered over 175.7 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. Overall, more than 77.6 crore people have been fully vaccinated, while over 96.3 crore people have received one dose. On Tuesday alone, India administered over 60,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses till 10 am, including over 50,000 second doses and over 6,700 first doses, according to Co-WIN.
Over 1.8 crore 'precautionary' doses administered
Meanwhile, India has administered over 1.8 crore "precautionary" doses since January 10. On Tuesday, over 2,500 healthcare/frontline workers and over 4,700 elderly people were given the precautionary dose till 10 am.
DCGI grants EUA to Corbevax for children aged 12-18
The Drugs Controller General of India on Monday granted emergency use authorization to Hyderabad-based Biological E's COVID-19 vaccine, Corbevax, for use in children aged between 12 and 18 years. The development comes nearly a week after the subject expert committee recommended the vaccine for use in adolescents. This makes Corbevax the second coronavirus vaccine to be available for the below-18 age group in India.