India registers 20,799 new COVID-19 cases, 180 deaths; at 97.89% recovery rate highest since March 2020

India registered 20,799 new cases in the last 24 hours, 8.9 percent lower than yesterday. With this, India’s total caseload touched 3,38,34,702.The country reported 180 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the total reported death count to 4,48,997. Maximum casualties were reported in Kerala with 74 fresh casualties, followed by Maharashtra with 41 daily deaths. Around 86.47 percent of the new cases are reported from only five states, with Kerala alone responsible for 59.12 percent of the new cases. Meanwhile, active cases stand at 2,64,458, which is 0.78 percent of total cases. The country reported 26,718 recoveries, taking the total number of recoveries to 3,31,21,247, which is 97.89 percent — the highest since March 2020. The weekly positivity rate  stands at 1.63 percent, which has been less than three percent for last 101 days. Under the country’s nation vaccination drive, 90,79,32,861 doses have been administered so far, with 23,46,176 doses being given in the last 24 hours. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 57,42,52,400 samples were tested up to 3 October. Of these 9,91,676 samples were tested on Sunday. The top five states which have registered maximum number cases are Kerala with 12,297 cases, followed by Maharashtra with 2,692 cases, Tamil Nadu with 1,531 cases, Andhra Pradesh with 765 cases and West Bengal with 701 cases. 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 agencies