India logs 23,529 new COVID-19 cases, 311 deaths in 24 hrs; Kerala accounts for 12,161 infections, 155 fatalities

India reported 23,529 new COVID-19 cases, 28,718 recoveries and 311 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per the Union health ministry on Thursday. With this, the total number of coronavirus cases rose to 3,37,39,980, while the death count reached 4,48,062. The number of new cases has been below 30,000 for the sixth day. Out of 23,529 new cases and 311 deaths across India, 12,161 cases and 155 deaths were reported from Kerala alone. Active cases fell for the fourth consecutive day and are the lowest in 195 days. They comprise 0.82 percent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020 — the active caseload at present is 2,77,020. A decrease of 5,500 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The difference between new cases reported in the last seven days and the preceding seven days in India is 19 percent (the world average is 10 percent). The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.56 percent. It has been below three percent for 31 days. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 1.74 percent. This figure has been below three percent for 97 days, according to the health ministry. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has surged to 3,30,14,898, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.33 percent. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said 56,89,56,439 samples were tested for COVID-19 up to 29 September, of these, 15,06,254 samples were tested in the last 24 hours. The test positivity rate is at 1.56 percent (1.25 percent the previous day). It has been below 2 percent for the third day. The test positivity rate (weekly average) in Mizoram is 17.33 percent, Kerala 14.85 percent, Sikkim 8.04 percent. Meanwhile, the cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 88 crore on Wednesday, the health ministry said. A total of 65,34,306 doses were administered in the last 24 hours. India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on 7 August 2020, 30 lakh on 23 August, 40 lakh on 5 September and 50 lakh on 16 September. It went past 60 lakh on 28 September, 70 lakh on 11 October 11, crossed 80 lakh on 29 October, 90 lakh on 20 November and surpassed the one-crore mark on 19 December. India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on 4 May and three crore on 23 June. With inputs from PTI