India reports less than 30,000 new COVID-19 cases after over four months; total toll at 4.2 lakh

New Delhi: India recorded less than 30,000 fresh COVID-19 cases after 132 days while its active caseload fell below 4,00,000 after 124 days on Tuesday, according to Union health ministry data. As many as 29,689 new coronavirus infections took the country’s tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,14,40,951 while 415 fresh fatalities pushed the toll to 4,21,382, the data updated at 8 am showed. The number of active cases dropped to 3,98,100 and comprises 1.27 percent of the total infections. The national COVID-19 recovery rate improved to 97.39 percent, it stated. The number of active cases fell by 13,089 in a span of 24 hours. As many as 17,20,110 COVID-19 tests were conducted on Monday, taking the total number of tests conducted so far to 45,91,64,121. The daily positivity rate declined to 1.73 percent. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.33 percent, the ministry data stated. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,06,21,469, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.34 percent, it said. The total number of Covid vaccine doses administered so far as part of the nationwide vaccination drive has reached 44.19 crore. India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on 7 August, 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, crossed 80 lakh on 29 October, 90 lakh on 20 November and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19. The caseload crossed the grim milestone of 2 crore on May 4 and 3 crore on June 23. The 415 new fatalities include 135 from Kerala, 62 from Odisha and 53 from Maharashtra. A total of 4,21,382 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,31,605 from Maharashtra, 36,405 from Karnataka, 33,937 from Tamil Nadu, 25,044 from Delhi, 22,750 from Uttar Pradesh and 18,085 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 state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.