India reports over 40,000 cases for second day; active cases surge to 4,03,840

India’s upward surge in cases continued for the second day on Thursday after a four-month low. In the past 24 hours, India has logged 43,509 fresh infections and at least 640 deaths. The country has 4,03,840 active cases. There were also 38,465 recoveries in the last 24 hours which brings the recovery rate up to 97.38 percent, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday. Ramping up the testing capacity, 46.26 crore tests have been conducted so far, which has restricted the weekly and daily positivity rates below 5 percent — 2.38 and 2.52 percent respectively, as per a health ministry release. 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 19 December. The caseload crossed the grim milestone of 2 crores on 4 May and three crores on 23 June. Here are some of the important data points for today: - India added as many as 4,400 active cases after yesterday’s surge - This is the highest rise in active cases in the last 77 days - New cases above 40,000 for the second consecutive day - Kerala reports over 17,000 new cases, Maharashtra over 6,800 new cases, and Andhra Pradesh over 2,000 new cases - Active cases in Kerala crosses 1.5 lakh mark after 52 days - Maharashtra reports 286 new deaths, Kerala 131, Odisha 69 - 17 states/UTs report rise in active cases, including 7 Northeastern states - Difference between new cases reported in the last 7 days and the week preceding that in India is -0.1 percent (world average is +7 percent) - On the vaccination front, 43.93 lakh new vaccine doses were administered in the past 24 hours, out of which, 31.04 lakh received their first dose yesterday, while 12.89 lakh second dose. This takes the total number of doses administered to 45.07 crores. - 17.29 lakh new tests were conducted. Test positivity rate: 2.52 percent (2.51 percent the previous day) - Test positivity rate: Manipur 18.41 percent, Sikkim 15.48 percent, Kerala 12.35 percent With inputs from agencies