India records 46,617 new Covid cases

India saw a single-day rise of 46,617 new coronavirus infections, taking the tally of Covid-19 cases to 3,04,58,251, while the national recovery rate has crossed 97 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

The death toll due to Covid-19 rose to 4,00,312 with 853 daily fatalities. Over 34 crore vaccine doses have been administered under the nationwide vaccination drive so far, it said. The active cases have further declined to 5,09,637, comprising 1.67 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate has improved to 97.01 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.

A net decline of 13,620 cases has been recorded in the total number of active Covid-19 cases in a span of 24 hours.

Also, 18,80,026 tests were conducted on Thursday, taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of Covid-19 in the country to 41,42,51,520, while the daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.48 per cent. It has been less than five per cent for 25 consecutive days, the ministry said.

Weekly positivity rate has declined to 2.57 per cent, according to the health ministry.

Recoveries continue to outnumber daily new cases for 50th consecutive days.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 2,95,48,302, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.31 per cent, the data stated.

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.

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.

India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.

The 853 new fatalities include 252 from Maharashtra, 124 from Kerala, 102 from Tamil Nadu and 94 from Karnataka.

A total of 4,00,312 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 1,22,197 from Maharashtra, 35,134 from Karnataka, 32,721from Tamil Nadu, 24,981 from Delhi, 22,601 from Uttar Pradesh, 17,735 from West Bengal and 16,072 from Punjab.

The health ministry stressed 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.

National recovery rate crosses 97 pc