India records 5,554 new Covid cases, 18 deaths

New Delhi: India logged 5,554 new coronavirus infections which raised the tally to 4,44,90,283 while the active cases further declined to 48,850, the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday. The death toll climbed to 5,28,139 with 18 fresh fatalities, which included two deaths reconciled by Kerala, data updated by the ministry at 8 am stated.

The active cases comprise 0.11 per cent of the total infections. The national COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 98.70 per cent, the health ministry said. A decline of 786 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 case count in a span of 24 hours, it said. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.47 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 1.80 per cent, the ministry said.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,39,13,294, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.19 per cent, it said. According to the ministry, 214.77 crore vaccine doses have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 inoculation drive. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.

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, 2020. The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore cases on May 4, three crore cases on June 23, 2021, and four crore cases on January 25 this year. The 16 new fatalities included four each from Delhi and Maharashtra and two from Haryana.