India records 2,86,384 fresh Covid cases, 573 fatalities

The daily Covid cases in India saw a marginal increase of 0.1 per cent but the positivity rate remained a concern as it jumped to nearly 20 per cent as the country reported under three lakh cases for the third consecutive day today.

With the addition of 2.86 lakh cases reported today, the Covid tally in India - the second worst-hit country after the US - now stands at 4.03 crore.

As many as 573 people have died of Covid during the past 24-hour period, according to the Health Ministry. At least 60 per cent of the patients who died during the current wave of Covid pandemic were either partially or fully unvaccinated.

The 573 new fatalities include 140 from Kerala and 79 from Maharashtra.

A total of 4,91,700 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,42,316 from Maharashtra, 52,281 from Kerala, 38,705 from Karnataka, 37,359 from Tamil Nadu, 25,710 from Delhi, 23,106 from Uttar Pradesh and 20,445 from West Bengal.

The active cases have decreased to 22,02,472 and now comprises 5.46 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has decreased to 93.33 per cent. The daily positivity rate - the share of coronavirus tests that return positive and considered a key marker of the pandemic's status - is up from 16.10% to 19.59% while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 17.75 per cent.

As many as 3,06,357 recoveries in the last 24 hours takes the total recoveries to 3,76,77,328. The recovery rate is currently at 93.33%.

India has administered a total of 22,35,267 doses in the last 24 hours, taking the total tally to 1,63,84,39,207.

India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 163.84 crore dose. At least 72 per cent of India's adult population is fully vaccinated whereas around 52 per cent of children in the 15-18 years old age group have been inoculated with the first dose of Covid vaccine.