Maintaining the declining trend for the second consecutive day, India on Monday reported 3,207 new cases, taking the overall infection tally so far to 4,31,05,401. With 29 fresh deaths, the toll climbed to 5,24,093, according to Union health ministry data. India had reported 3,451 new cases and 40 deaths a day ago.
The active cases – at 20,403 – comprise 0.05 per cent of the total infections, the latest government data showed. With the number of people recuperating from the disease surged to 4,25,60,905, the national Covid-19 recovery rate was reported at 98.74 per cent.
The daily positivity rate was recorded as 0.95 per cent and the weekly positivity rate as 0.82 per cent, the data further showed.
The total vaccine doses administered in the country under the ongoing vaccination campaign have exceeded 190.34 crores. The number of tests done during the previous day was recorded at 3,36,776.
After a let-up in Covid-19 cases, following a third wave driven by Omicron, infections in India are once again rising though not rapidly. The daily case count hovers between the 2,000 to 3,000 mark.
The World Health Organisation’s recent report on excess deaths that went unreported globally made headlines as the report pegged the number of deaths in India associated with Covid-19 at 4.7 million – as against the government’s toll of 4,80,000. The government refuted the report and stated its objections to the use of “mathematical model” for projecting excess mortality estimates in view of the availability of authentic data.