A health worker administers a dose of COVID vaccine to a beneficiary at a vaccination centre in Kolkata.
India recorded 16,326 new cases of the novel coronavirus, along with 666 deaths due to the infection in the past 24 hours. According to the data shared by the Union Health Ministry on Saturday, the country saw a total of 17,677 discharges in the last 24 hours, taking the total recovery rate at around 98.16 per cent which is the highest since March 2020 and total recoveries data reached to 3,35,32,126.
The total active cases of COVID-19 in India slightly dipped to 1,73,728, the ministry data showed.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 59,84,31,162 samples have been tested up to October 22 for COVID-19. Of these 13,64,681 samples were tested on Friday.
The total death toll in the country is now at 4,53,708. In India, the first death due to COVID pandemic was reported in March 2020.
Meanwhile, the cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country surpassed the 100-crore milestone on Thursday. According to official sources, around 75 per cent of India's all eligible adult population has been administered at least the first dose and around 31 per cent has received both the doses of the vaccine.
India took 85 days to touch the 10-crore vaccination mark, 45 more days to cross the 20-crore mark and 29 more days to reach the 30-crore mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data.
Also, Kerala logged 9,361 new COVID cases and 99 deaths on Friday, pushing the infection count to 48,88,678 and the death toll to 27,765. According to a release, 9,401 people recuperated from the disease today, taking the total cured in the state to 47,88,629.
"Currently there are 80,892 active COVID-19 cases of which only 9.8 per cent are hospitalised," State Health Minister Veena George said in a release.
