Covid-19 cases continue to rise in India, 16,159 new cases reported in 24 hours

Covid-19 cases continue to increase in India following a brief dip in cases, with the country reporting 16,159 fresh cases in the last 24 hours, according to Union Health Ministry. The country reported 15,394 recoveries and 28 deaths in the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry data revealed. While the active cases in the country stood at 1,15,212 in last 24 hours and the daily positivity rate was at 3.56%, the Health Ministry data said.

Meanwhile, India on Tuesday added 13,086 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 4,35,31,650, while the active cases increased to 1,14,475, according to the Union Health Ministry data. The death toll climbed to 5,25,242 with 19 new fatalities. The active cases comprise 0.26 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.53 per cent, the ministry said.

An increase of 611 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload on Tuesday and a total of 86.44 crore tests have been conducted so far with 4,51,312 tests conducted until yesterday. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.90 per cent while the weekly positivity rate stood at 3.81 per cent.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 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, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19. The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23 last year. It crossed four crore on January 25 this year.

The 19 new fatalities include three from Maharashtra and two each from Kerala, Punjab and Rajasthan. A total of 5,25,223 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,47,943 from Maharashtra, 70,048 from Kerala, 40,120 from Karnataka, 38,026 from Tamil Nadu, 26,272 from Delhi, 23,541 from Uttar Pradesh and 21,225 from West Bengal. The ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent 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.

(With inputs from PTI)