India's COVID-19 count climbs over 20,000 mark for first time in 145 days

New Delhi: India reported 20,139 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) said on Thursday morning. The fresh infections reported today are 19.12 per cent higher than 16,906 cases logged yesterday. The country reported 38 deaths in the last 24 hours, increased the toll of COVID-19 related casualties in the country to 5,25,557 (5 lakh 25 thousand 5 hundred and 57). It is worth mentioning that after a gap of 145 days or almost after five months, India recorded over 20,000 new COVID-19 cases. The cases reported today have pushed the country’s coronavirus tally to 4,36,89,989 (4 crore 36 lakh 89 thousand 9 hundred and 89). The daily COVID-19 positivity rate has increased to 5.10 per cent today, up from 3.68 per cent on Wednesday. The weekly positivity rate was at 4.37 per cent. States reporting highest number of new COVID-19 cases West Bengal has been witnessing a rapid surge in new COVID-19 cases. The state has reported 2,979 fresh cases, 320 more than the previous day’s count. Maharashtra added 2,575 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours. Mumbai alone recorded 383 COVID-19 cases. Tamil Nadu on Wednesday recorded 2,269 fresh COVID-19 cases, with Chennai registering the highest of 729 cases among all the districts in the state. COVID-19 deaths in India Of the 38 new deaths reported in the last 24 hours, 16 were from Kerala, 10 from Maharashtra, four from West Bengal, three from Delhi and one each from Assam, Bihar, Goa, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. Active COVID-19 cases in India India now has 1,36,076 (1 lakh 36 thousand and 76) active COVID-19 cases. There has been increase of 3,619 cases in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The country’s active cases comprise 0.31 per cent of the total infections. India’s COVID-19 recovery The Union Health Ministry said that 16,482 patients recuperated from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, increasing total recoveries to 4,30,28,356 (4 crore 30 lakh 28 thousand 3 hundred and 56). The national recovery rate now is at 98.49 per cent. COVID-19 tests in India According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) 3,94,774 (3 lakh 94 thousand and 7 hundred and 74) COVID-19 tests were conducted in the country in last 24 hours. As many as 86,81,64,348 (86 crore 81 lakh 64 thousand 3 hundred and 48) samples have been tested for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, the Council data stated. COVID-19 vaccination On Wednesday the government announced administering free COVID-19 booster dose for all aged above 18 years from 15 July for the next 75 days. As per the health ministry update 13,44,714 (13 lakh 44 thousand 7 hundred and 14) doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered in the country in the last 24 hours. India started the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive on 16 January, 2021, and since then, more than 199.27 crore vaccine doses have been administered to the eligible beneficiaries. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.