India reports 16,935 new COVID-19 cases, 51 deaths; daily positivity rate rises above 6% after 161 days

New Delhi: India has logged 16,935 new cases of COVID-19 and 51 deaths in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) informed on Monday morning. The country’s daily positivity was recorded above six per cent after 161 days. Though the fresh COVID-19 infections reported today are lower than 20,528 cases reported yesterday, the daily positivity rate rose to 6.48 per cent, up from 5.23 per cent on Sunday. The weekly positivity rate was at 4.58 per cent. The country’s tally of COVID-19 cases has risen to 4,37,67,534 (4 crore 37 lakh 67 thousand 5 hundred and 34), while cumulative deaths due to the novel coronavirus has climbed to 5,25,760 (5 lakh 25 thousand 7 hundred and 60). Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, West Bengal report most new COVID-19 cases Three states - Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, West Bengal, are reporting more than 2,000 new COVID-19 cases. West Bengal logged 2,659 fresh infections in the last 24 hours. The state also reported five deaths due to the disease. Tamil Nadu added 2,316 new COVID-19 cases and they included a returnee from Maharashtra. The state also reported one more fatality due to the virus. Four districts reported most of the new cases with Chennai seeing 596, Chengalpattu 354, Coimbatore 164, Tiruvallur 114. Maharashtra reported 2,186 new COVID-19 cases and three deaths. The state now has 15,525 active cases of coronavirus. According to the latest report from BJ Medical College in Pune, 18 patients were found infected with the BA.5 sub-variant of Omicron, 17 others with the BA.2.75 variant, and one with BA.4 variant. All these patients are from Pune and the samples of these patients had been taken between 25 June and 4 July. These samples were tested at the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) labs in Pune and Mumbai. Active COVID-19 cases in India There are now 1,44,264 (1 lakh 44 thousand 2 hundred and 64) active COVID-19 cases in India. There has been increase of 815 cases in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The country’s active cases comprise 0.33 per cent of the total infections. COVID-19 deaths in India Of the 51 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, Kerala alone registered 29, five were from West Bengal, three each from Assam, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and one each from Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Karnataka, Manipur, Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim and Tamil Nadu. India’s COVID-19 recovery According to the health ministry, 16,069 patients recuperated from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, increasing total recoveries to 4,30,97,510 (4 crore 30 lakh 97 thousand 5 hundred and 10). The national recovery rate now is at 98.47 per cent. COVID-19 tests in India According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) 2,61,470 (2 lakh 61 thousand 4 hundred and 70) COVID-19 tests were conducted in the country in last 24 hours. Since the start of the pandemic, 86,96,87,102 (86 crore 96 lakh 87 thousand 1 hundred and 2) samples have been tested for COVID-19 across India. COVID-19 vaccination In the last 24 hours, 4,46,671 (4 lakh 46 thousand 6 hundred and 71) doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered in the country. India started the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive on 16 January, 2021. Since then, more than 200 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.