India records 38,079 fresh Covid cases, 560 deaths

New Delhi: India recorded 38,079 new coronavirus cases, which took the infection tally to 3,10,64,908, while the death toll reached 4,13,091 with 560 more fatalities, according to Union health ministry data updated on Saturday.

The active cases have declined to 4,24,025 and comprise 1.36 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 97.31 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed. It said that active COVID-19 cases have decreased by 6,397 in a span of 24 hours. The ministry said that 19,98,715 tests were conducted on Friday, taking the total cumulative tests conducted for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 44,20,21,954. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.91 per cent and it has been less than three per cent for 26 consecutive days, it said.

The weekly positivity rate stands at 2.10 per cent, according to the health ministry. The number of people who have recovered from the disease has risen to 3,02,27,792, while the case fatality rate has increased to 1.33 per cent, the data stated. The total vaccine doses administered has reached 39.96 crore under the nationwide vaccination drive. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20 lakh-mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16 last year. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one crore-mark on December 19 last year. India crossed two crore cases on May 4 and three crore cases on June 23.

The 560 new fatalities included 167 deaths from Maharashtra and 130 from Kerala, the ministry said. In total, 4,13,091 deaths have been reported in the country, including 1,26,727 from Maharashtra, 36,079 from Karnataka, 33,652 from Tamil Nadu, 25,023 from Delhi, 22,711 from Uttar Pradesh, 17,980 from West Bengal and 16,215 from Punjab. The ministry said that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities. "Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.