India coronavirus update: 16,946 new cases push tally to over 1.05 cr, active cases drop to 2.13 lakh

India reported 16,946 fresh coronavirus cases and 198 deaths in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) said on Thursday.

With the addition of fresh Covid-19 cases, the overall cases in India reached 1,05,12,093 including 2,13,603 active cases.

Also Read | Digital bank account sparks off a disruption

After 17,652 discharges in a span of 24 hours, the cumulative recoveries reached 1,01,46,763, as per the Health Ministry. The death toll climbed to 1,51,727.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 18,42,32,305 samples were tested for Covid-19 up to 13 January including 7,43,191 samples tested yesterday.

Key updates related to Covid-19:

• India's Covid-19 vaccine rollout, the biggest in the world starts on 16 January. Earlier, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has said: "After one dose, or even after two doses, Covid-appropriate behaviour has to be followed. I am requesting you with folded hands. Please don't think I have got one dose or two doses... now nothing can happen to me."
• Around 3 lakh healthcare workers will be inoculated at 2,934 sites across the country on the first day of the massive nationwide Covid vaccination drive.
• The Indian govt hinted that vaccine recipients, for now, will not have the option to choose from the two vaccines -- Oxford vaccine, Covishield, manufactured by Serum Institute of India and indigenously developed Covaxin of Bharat Biotech -- that have been approved for restricted emergency use.
• Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala are the five states that have logged the most number of cases of coronavirus in the country followed by the national capital since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• A WHO team of researchers arrived Thursday in the Chinese city where the Covid-19 pandemic was first detected to conduct a politically sensitive investigation into its origins amid uncertainty about whether Beijing might try to prevent embarrassing discoveries.