Covid-19: India sees 16,326 fresh cases, 666 deaths

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New Covid-19 cases figure stood at 16,326 on October 23, taking the tally to 3,41,59,560. While the death toll rose to 4,53,708 with 666 fresh fatalities, according to the Union health ministry data. The active cases comprise 0.51% of the total infections, the lowest since March last year. The daily increase in new Covid cases has been below 30,000 for the past 29 days. A decrease of 2,o17 cases has been recorded in the active caseload in a span of 24 hours. India’s active caseload has declined to 1,73,728 the lowest in 233 days, according to data from health ministry.

India’s Covid-19 tally had crossed the one-crore mark on December 19, 2020. By May 4 this year, it had crossed two crore and as of June 23, the number of cases had risen to three crore.

The weekly positivity rate stands at 1.24% and has been below 2% for the last 29 days, the ministry said. The daily positivity rate stands at 1.20% and has been below 2% for the last 19 days, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recovered from the disease rose to 3,35,32,126, with the recovery rate at 98.16%, data from the health ministry showed.

Deaths

Of the total of 4,53,708 deaths reported in the country, 1,39,965 were from Maharashtra, 37,995 from Karnataka, 35, 987 from Tamil Nadu, 25,091 from Delhi, 22,899 from Uttar Pradesh, 27,765 from Kerala and 19,033 from West Bengal. The 666 new fatalities include 40 from Maharashtra, 563 from Kerala and 19 from Tamil Nadu.

The health ministry stressed that more than 70% 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.

Covid-19 tests and vaccination drive

As many as 9,23,003 Covid-19 tests were conducted on Friday, taking the total number of tests done so far in the country to more than 59 crore.

Also, over 101 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered under the nationwide vaccination drive, according to the ministry.