Amid rising Covid-19 infections in the country, the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) on Friday approved Serum Institute of India's Covid-19 vaccine Covovax for the 12-17 age group.

 Last month, an expert panel of the country’s central drug authority had recommended granting emergency use authorisation (EUA) to Covovax for the 12-17 age group. India has reported 3,377 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the highest tally since mid-March taking the total number of infections to 4,30,72,176.

According to the Union Health Ministry, the active cases increased to 17,801, with 821 new active cases in a 24-hour time span. Delhi continues to report over 1,000 cases daily. On Thursday, the national capital witnessed 1,490 new infections. Two fatalities related to the contagious disease were reported, while the positivity rate soared to 4.62 per cent.

Maharashtra recorded 165 new coronavirus cases including 90 in Mumbai alone, the health department said.

The country also reported 60 deaths today, bringing the total number of Covid-related fatalities to 5,23,753. The active cases comprise 0.04 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate was recorded as 98.74 per cent, the Ministry said.

The Covid-19 death count remained at 696 as no new fatality was reported since Thursday, the official said. The single-day positivity rate increased to 10 per cent from 7.49 per cent the previous day, as the fresh cases were detected from 990 samples tested, he said.

Around 2,25,896 people have recovered from the infection so far, including 85 people on Thursday, he said.

The Covid-19 recovery rate now is 99.36 per cent and the death rate is 0.30 per cent.