India logs 38,667 COVID-19 cases, 478 fatalities in 24 hrs; Kerala continues to drive surge with over 14% positivity rate

India saw a single-day rise of 38,667 coronavirus infections, taking the total tally of cases to 3,21,56,493, while the death toll rose to 4,30,732 with 478 fresh fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated Saturday. The ministry said the country has now reported less than 50,000 daily new cases for 48 consecutive days. Also, 22,29,798 COVID-19 tests were conducted Friday, taking the cumulative number of tests conducted so far for the detection of coronavirus in the country to 49,17,00,577, while the daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.73 percent. It has been less than 3 per cent for the last 19 days. Cumulatively, 53.61 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered till Saturday morning. Here are key data points from today’s data 

• 38,7673 new cases, 478 new deaths, 3,13,38,088 new recoveries,
• Active cases rise by 2,446, taking the overall number to  3,87,673 (1.21 per cent of the total infections)
• Case fatality rate stands at 1.34 percent
• New cases below 40,000 after two days
• States with the highest daily cases are: Kerala (around 25,000 new cases), Maharashtra (around 6,700 new cases), and Tamil Nadu (around 1,933 cases)
• Maharashtra reports 158 new deaths, Kerala 114, Odisha 60
• 11 states/UTs report rise in active cases
• Difference between new cases reported in the last 7 days and the preceding 7 days in India is -7 percent (world average is +3 percent)
• 63.81 lakh new vaccinations. 53.61 crore total. 50.32 lakh received their first dose yesterday, 13.49 lakh second dose
• Daily vaccinations highest in last 18 days
• 22.3 lakh new tests.
• Test positivity rate: 1.73 percent (2.04 percent the previous day)
• Daily tests highest till date (22,29,798)
• States with highest test positivity rate: Kerala 14.73 percent, Manipur 14.48 percent, Sikkim 11.21 percent

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