India reports 10,549 new Covid cases, 15.6% higher than yesterday

New Delhi: India on Friday reported 10,549 fresh Covid-19 cases pushing the country's cumulative cases to 3,45,55,43, as per the Ministry of Health and Family welfare's latest database.

Among all the states, Kerala reported the highest Covid-19 cases at 5,987, followed by Maharashtra with 848 cases, West Bengal with 758 cases, Tamil Nadu with 739 cases and Mizoram with 444 cases.

These five states accounted for 83.2 per cent of the daily new cases reported on Friday, with Kerala alone responsible for 56.75 per cent of the fresh infections.

In the last 24 hours, 488 people succumbed to Covid-19, increasing the total reported death count to 4,67,468. The last time it was higher than this was on Nov 13, 2021, i.e. 13 days ago, when India reported 555 deaths.

Maximum casualties were reported in Kerala (384), followed by Maharashtra with 50 daily deaths.

Meanwhile, several nations worldwide, including India, have expressed concern amid reports of a new Covid variant surfacing. Identified first in South Africa and already spreading to its neighbouring countries including Botswana, this variant has now been detected across the globe in Hong Kong as well, and is said to be much more infectious than the Delta variant, the "most heavily mutated" version of coronavirus discovered so far.

The recovery of 9,868 patients in the last 24 hours has increased the cumulative tally to 3,39,77,830. Consequently, India's recovery rate stands at 98.33 per cent, the highest since March 2020.

The active caseload stands at 1,10,133. Active cases presently constitute 0.32 per cent of the country's total positive cases, the lowest since March 2020.

Also in the same period, a total of 11,81,246 tests were conducted across the country, taking the total to over 63.71 crore.

Meanwhile, the weekly positivity rate at 0.89 per cent has remained less than 1 per cent for the last 12 days now.

The daily positivity rate, which currently stands at 0.89, has also remained below 2 per cent for the last 53 days and less than 3 per cent for 88 consecutive days.

With the administration of 83,88,824 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India's Covid inoculation coverage reached 120.27 crore as of Friday morning.

This has been achieved through 1,24,56,121 sessions.