India reported less than 20,000 coronavirus cases for two straight days even though a slight rise in the daily figures was seen on Wednesday. The latest updates on the health ministry bulletin showed 18,870 new Covid-19 cases were registered in the last 24 hours. The figures were 18,795 on Tuesday.
With 28,178 patients being cured during the same period, the recovery rate now stood at 97.83 per cent, which is the highest since March 2020.
There were 2,82,520 active cases at the moment and counted for 0.84 per cent of the total cases — 3,37,16,451 — that have been registered in the country since the pandemic struck last year. The active caseload is also at its lowest since March 2020.
The fresh figures have raised hopes of the authorities amid major fears of an impending third wave as officials continue to warn against giving up on Covid-appropriate behaviour.
As many as 378 people lost their lives to the virus in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll 4,47,751.
The weekly positivity rate, which has remained less than three per cent for 96 days, was 1.83 per cent at the moment, while the daily positivity rate that has been less than three per cent for 30 days was 1.25 per cent.
The Indian Council of Medical Research said 15,04,713 samples were tested for Covid-19 in the last one day, taking the total figure to 56,74,50,185.
The government has so far administered 87,66,63,490 doses of vaccines against the virus. Of these, 54,13,332 were inoculated in the last 24 hours.