Coronavirus: India reports 10K+ new cases, 332 more deaths
India on Tuesday reported over 10,000 new COVID-19 cases with an active caseload of 1.40 lakh, the lowest in 263 days. Active cases now account for just 0.41% of the total cases. Correspondingly, the recovery rate was recorded at 98.25%, the highest since March 2020. Meanwhile, India's daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.93%. It has been under 2% for the last 36 days.
Why does it matter?
The COVID-19 situation in India has been improving in the last few weeks, with the number of daily new cases remaining below 20,000 for nearly a month. Tuesday marked the first time in weeks that the daily positivity rate slipped under 1%. Incidentally, most infections are concentrated in Kerala, which contributes roughly 50% of India's total active cases.
India's tally crosses 3.43 crore
According to the Union Health Ministry, India reported a total of 3,43,77,113 COVID-19 cases till Tuesday morning. The death toll reached 4,61,389. With 11,982 fresh discharges, India's recoveries stood at 3,37,75,086. In the past 24 hours, 10,126 new cases and 332 fresh fatalities were reported. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 1.25%. It has remained under 2% the last 46 days.
India's second wave peaked on May 7
India's second wave peaked on May 7, 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 have declined since the second wave peaked, India crossed the three crore-mark on June 23. India had crossed the one crore-mark on December 19, 2020, and the 2 crore-mark on May 4, 2021.
Kerala contributes 53% of new cases
Maharashtra reported 751 new COVID-19 cases along with 1,555 more recoveries. Kerala, the second worst-hit state after Maharashtra, reported 5,404 new cases and 6,136 discharges. The third worst-hit Karnataka added 283 new cases and 290 recoveries. Tamil Nadu, the fourth worst-hit state, reported 841 new cases and 937 recoveries. Andhra Pradesh reported 246 new cases and 334 recoveries.
India administers over 109 crore vaccine doses
By 4 pm on Tuesday, India had administered nearly 109.5 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. Overall, nearly 35 crore people have been fully vaccinated, while over 74.5 crore people have received at least one dose. On Tuesday alone, India administered over 44 lakh more doses till 4 pm, including over 32.1 lakh second doses, and 12 lakh first doses, according to CoWIN.
India to resume COVAX aid soon
India will resume the export of COVID-19 vaccine doses to global vaccine-sharing platform COVAX in a few weeks, Reuters reported citing health industry sources. COVAX officials have also started planning allocations of Covishield shots to various countries based on India's informal approval, the report said. Notably, India had stopped exporting COVID-19 vaccine doses during the peak of the second wave of COVID-19.
