India on Tuesday recorded less that 20,000 cases (18,795), for the first time since March 11. It is also a sharp drop from the cases reported yesterday (26,041). The country also reported 179 deaths, again a big dip from the 276 deaths reported a day ago.
The top five states which have registered maximum Covid-19 cases are Kerala with 11,699 cases, followed by Mizoram with 1,846 cases, Tamil Nadu with 1,657 cases, Andhra Pradesh with 618 cases and Karnataka with 504 cases.
As many as 86.86 per cent of the new cases are reported from these five states, with Kerala alone responsible for 62.25 per cent of the new cases.
Maximum casualties were reported in Kerala (58), followed by Maharashtra with 32 daily deaths.
India has administered a total of 1,02,22,525 doses in the last 24 hours, which brings the total tally of doses administered to 87,07,08,636.
The daily positivity rate - number of positive cases identified per 100 - stands at 1.42 per cent less than 3 per cent for last 29 days. The COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 97.81 per cent.
Less than 50,000 daily cases are being reported in the country for 93 consecutive days now, the union Ministry said.
The Central government said more than 84.70 crore vaccine doses were provided to states and Union territories so far with another 42.83 lakh doses (42,83,200) being in the pipeline. Over 4.75 crore balance and unutilised vaccine doses were still available with the states and Union territories, it added.
Meanwhile, Pfizer is investigating an oral antiviral drug that could prevent Covid-19 infection the company announced on Monday, as scientists around the world work to develop new tools to fight Covid-19 and ease the burden on overwhelmed hospitals.
The trial will test the safety and efficacy of the pill with ritonavir, another antiviral widely used to treat HIV. One-third of patients in the trial will receive a placebo, while the remainder will receive a dose of the drug twice a day for either five or 10 days.