22,431 fresh Covid cases in India in 24 hours, 19% higher than yesterday

India reported 22,431 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, 19% higher than yesterday's figure when the country reported 18,833 Covid cases. During the same period 318 related deaths were recorded, according to the Health Ministry.

Kerala, which leads the states in most number of daily cases, reported 12,616 cases when 98,782 samples were tested in the past 24 hours. Tamil Nadu added 1,432 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the caseload to 26,72,843 till date, while 25 deaths took the death count in the state to 35,707.

Several states/UTs have already issued fresh Covid-19 guidelines and re-imposed restrictions ahead of the festivals.

A total of 24,602 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative tally of recoveries to 3,32,00,258. India's recovery rate stands at 97.95 per cent - the highest since March 2020.

The active caseload is presently 2,44,198, which is the lowest in 204 days. Active cases presently constitute 0.72 per cent of the country's total positive cases.

The weekly positivity rate, at 1.68 per cent, remains less than 3 per cent for the last 104 days now, while the daily positivity rate is 1.57 per cent, having remained below 3 per cent for last 38 days and below 5 per cent for 121 consecutive days now.

The last 24 hours saw a total of 14,31,819 tests being conducted, taking the cumulative total to over 57.86 crore.

With 43,09,525 vaccine doses administered in the last 24 hours, India's Covid-19 vaccination coverage crossed the 92.63 crore mark as per provisional reports till 7 a.m. on Thursday. This has been achieved through 90,14,182 sessions.

Over 93.94 crore vaccine doses have been provided to states/UTs so far through the Centre as well as the direct state procurement category. However, more than 7.64 cr unutilised vaccine doses are still available with the states/UTs to be administered, the Health Ministry data said.