The active COVID-19 cases in India comprise 0.68 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020 — the active caseload at present is 2,30,971, lowest in 208 days.

The national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.99 per cent, highest since March 2020. At least 23,624 recoveries in the last 24 hours took the total number of recoveries to 3,32,71,915 in India.

The daily positivity rate – number of positive cases identified per 100 – stands at 1.42 per cent, less than 3 per cent for last 41 days. The weekly positivity rate stands at 1.57 per cent in India.

India’s cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 94.70 crore. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya exhorted 19 states to escalate their inoculation pace so that India can achieve administering 100 crore vaccine doses in the next few days, and warned that COVID-19 containment can derail if festivals are not celebrated following protocols.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has lauded India’s ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive and said kudos to people who are making India’s vaccination drive a success.

Delhi recorded 30 new COVID-19 cases, while the positivity rate stood at 0.05 per cent. No new Covid deaths were reported in the national capital.

The Bengal government has asked people to avoid crowded places saying the pandemic is not over yet, as many have started visiting Durga Puja pandals in large numbers even before the actual festival commences. Meanwhile, at least 12 more died of Covid taking the death count to 18,894 while the case tally went up to 15,75,577 as 776 new cases were registered.

After a four day gap, Kerala logged below 10,000 cases — 9,470 –, and 101 deaths, taking the caseload to 47,84,109 and the death count to 26,173.

Maharashtra reported 2,486 fresh coronavirus positive cases, taking the tally of infections to 65,75,578 while 44 fatalities pushed the count to 1,39,514, the health department said.

Chennai, Coimbatore and neighbouring Chengalpet district accounted for a majority of new Covid-19 infections as Tamil Nadu added 1,344 new cases, pushing the caseload to 26,76,936.