India reports 32,937 fresh COVID-19 cases, 417 deaths; Union health minister arrives in Kerala to review situation

India’s coronavirus caseload mounted to 3,22,25,513 on Monday with 32,937 fresh infections, while the active cases came down to 3,81,947, the lowest in 145 days, according to Union health ministry data. The toll climbed to 4,31,642 as 417 more people succumbed to COVID-19, the data updated at 8 am showed. The 3,81,947 active cases, down from 3,85,336 on Sunday, comprise 1.18 percent of the total infections in the country, the lowest since March last year. The national recovery rate stands at 97.48 percent, the highest since March last year, the ministry said. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.79 percent. It has remained below 3 percent for the last 21 days. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.01 percent, it said. So far, 3,14,11,924 people have recuperated from COVID-19. The case fatality rate stands at 1.34 percent, it added. Meanwhile, a central team led by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya arrived in Kerala on Monday to review the COVID-19 situation in the state which is presently accounting for more than half of the nation’s daily fresh infection caseload. Kerala on Sunday reported 18,582 new COVID-19 cases which were more than half of the national total of 32,937 fresh coronavirus cases. On Sunday, the test positivity rate was 15.11 percent in the southern state. A Thiruvananthapuram Airport official confirmed that the Union minister landed and has left the airport. According to his itinerary, Mandaviya is expected to meet Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and state Health Minister Veena George and other officials involved in COVID management in the state in the afternoon. Subsequently, he is scheduled to visit the Hindustan Latex Ltd (HLL) office in Thiruvananthapuram as well as the government medical college and hospital in the state capital before returning to Delhi later in the evening. Mandaviya is accompanied by the Director of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and other senior officials of the health ministry. As many as 11,81,212 COVID-19 tests were conducted on Sunday, taking the total number of tests conducted so far in the country to 49,48,05,652. Cumulatively, 54.58 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered under the nationwide vaccination drive so far. India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7 last year, 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, 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19. India’s caseload crossed the grim milestone of two crores on May 4 and three crores on June 23. The 417 new fatalities include 130 from Maharashtra and 102 from Kerala. Of the total 4,31,642 deaths reported so far in the country, 1,35,039 were from Maharashtra, 36,979 from Karnataka, 34,519 from Tamil Nadu, 25,069 from Delhi, 22,784 from Uttar Pradesh, 18,601 from Kerala and 18,303 from West Bengal. The health ministry stressed that more than 70 percent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities. “Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the ministry said on its website, adding that the state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation. With inputs from PTI