At 39,361, India sees slight decline in new cases; 416 deaths in 24 hours

India on Monday recorded 39,361 fresh coronavirus cases, which is marginally lower than yesterday's count. The country also reported 416 deaths over a 24-hour period taking the total death toll in the country to 4,20,967.

According to the data shared by the Union Health Ministry on Monday, the country saw a total of 35,968 discharges in the last 24 hours, taking the total recovery to 3,05,79,106. The active cases of COVID-19 in India are now at 4,11,189, the data showed.

The test positivity rate - number of positive cases identified per hundred - stands at 3.41 per cent, above 3 per cent after 34 days.

Kerala with 17,466 cases in a day leads the states in most number of infections in a day. It also reported 66 deaths.

Maharashtra remains the worst-hit state with maximum overall cases. It added 6,843 cases and 123 deaths over the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, for the first time, five cases of `Kappa' variant of coronavirus have been detected in Gujarat, the state health department said on Saturday. Three cases were found in Jamnagar, two in Godhra in Pahchmahal district and one in Mehsana, it said in a release.

In May, the World Health Organization had named the new variant, a `double mutant', as "Kappa", after a letter of the Greek alphabet.

India has so far administered 43.51 crore vaccine doses under the nationwide vaccination drive, the Union ministry said.

The government on Monday said that more than 45.37 crore vaccine doses have been provided to states and UTs and a further 59,39,010 doses are in the pipeline.

More than 3.09 crore balance and unutilised doses are still available with the states, UTs and private hospitals to be administered. The total consumption, including wastages, is 42,28,59,270 doses, as per government data available at 8am on Monday.