Covid-19: India sees 15,981 fresh cases, 166 deaths

New Covid-19 cases figure stood at 15,981 on October 16, taking the tally to 3,40,53,573. While the death toll rose to 4,51,980 with 166 fresh fatalities, according to the Union health ministry data. The active cases comprise 0.60% of the total infections, the lowest since March last year. The daily increase in new Covid cases has been below 20,000 for the past one week. A decrease of 2,o46 cases has been recorded in the active caseload in a span of 24 hours. India’s active caseload has declined to 2,01,632, the lowest in 218 days, according to data from health ministry.

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

The weekly positivity rate stands at 1.44% and has been below 3% for the last 113 days, the ministry said. The daily positivity rate stands at 1.73% and has been below 3% for the last 47 days, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recovered from the disease rose to 3,33,99,961, with the recovery rate at 98.07%, data from the health ministry showed.

Deaths

From the total of 4,51,980 deaths reported in the country, 1,39,734 were from Maharashtra, 37,931 from Karnataka, 35, 869 from Tamil Nadu, 25,089 from Delhi, 22,897 from Uttar Pradesh, 26,734 from Kerala and 18,953 from West Bengal. The 166 new fatalities include 29 from Maharashtra, 67 from Kerala and 16 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 58 crore.

Also, over 97.23 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered under the nationwide vaccination drive, according to the ministry.