India on Friday reported a single-day count of over 17,000 fresh Covid-19 cases after a gap of over four months (124 days), recording a 30 per cent jump in daily cases.
A total 17,336 coronavirus cases were reported in a span of 24 hours, taking the total infection tally to 4,33,62,294, while the death toll due to the disease climbed to 5,24,954 with 13 new fatalities being reported, according to the Union Health Ministry data.
The national Capital recorded 1,447 new Covid cases and one more death on Friday, while the positivity rate dropped to 5.98 per cent. These fresh cases were recorded out of 24,203 tests conducted the previous day. The infection tally in Delhi has risen to 19,28,841 and the death toll stands at 26,243.
Delhi had recorded 1,934 Covid cases and zero death on Thursday, while the positivity rate had stood 8.10 per cent.
Fresh cases dropped slightly from 858 cases on Thursday to 816 cases on Friday in Karnataka. At the national level, the daily positivity rate was recorded at 4.32 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 3.07 per cent, according to the Health Ministry.
The count of active cases has increased to 88,284, comprising 0.20 per cent of the total infections, while Covid-19 recovery rate at the national level was recorded at 98.59 per cent, it said.
An increase of 4,294 cases has been recorded in the active Covid-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours, the data showed.
The number of patients who have recuperated from the disease has surged to 4,27,49,056. The case fatality rate was recorded at 1.21 per cent.
According to the Ministry, 196.77 crore vaccine doses have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive.
India’s Covid-19 infection tally crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5, 50 lakh on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and the one-crore mark on December 19, 2020.
The country crossed the grim milestones of two crore cases on May 4, 2021, three crore on June 23, 2021 and four crore on January 25 this year.
Thirteen new fatalities due to the disease were reported in the country - seven from Kerala, two from Punjab, and one each from Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
The Subject Expert Committee (SEC) on Covid-19, an expert panel of India’s Central drug authority, on June 24 recommended granting emergency use authorisation to Serum Institute’s (SII) Covovax for children aged 7 to 11 years. The recommendation has been sent to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for final approval. The application for emergency use authorisation was submitted by Prakash Kumar Singh, director (Government and regulatory affairs) at SII on March 16.
