Medics administer doses of Covid vaccine to beneficiaries during a free vaccination drive organized by Vivanta Hospital at Goregaon in Mumbai.
India recorded 16,156 new cases of the novel coronavirus, along with 733 deaths due to the infection in the past 24 hours. According to the data shared by the Union Health Ministry on Thursday, the country saw a total of 17,095 discharges in the last 24 hours, taking the total recovery rate at around 98.19 per cent which is the highest since March 2020 and total recoveries data reached to 3,36,14,434.
The total active cases of COVID-19 in India slightly dipped to 1,60,989, the ministry data showed.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 60,44,98,405 samples have been tested up to October 27 for COVID-19. Of these 12,90,900 samples were tested on Wednesday.
The total death toll in the country is now at 4,56,386. In India, the first death due to COVID pandemic was reported in March 2020.
Meanwhile, in an uptick in daily fresh infections, Kerala on Wednesday recorded 9,445 new coronavirus cases and 622 related deaths which raised the caseload to 49,29,397 and toll to 29,977. The state had registered 7,163 fresh infections yesterday.
Of the 622 deaths, 93 were reported in the last few days, 330 were those which were not confirmed until June 18 last year due to lack of adequate documentation and 199 were designated as COVID deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and Supreme Court directions, a state government release said.
With 6,723 more people recovering from the virus since Tuesday, the total recoveries touched 48,31,468 and the active cases dropped to 76,554, the release said.
Also, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written a letter to Narayan Swaroop Nigam, Bengal Health Secretary regarding new deaths and cases of COVID in the state that have occurred in last 30 days.
In a letter, Secretary Rajesh Bhusan said, "although there has been a significant decline in the average daily new cases (15,092 average daily cases reported in week ending Oct 22) being recorded at the national level, certain districts in the country have started to show a concerning trend in daily news cases and positivity rate. We all need to maintain a strict watch and take pre-emptive action if required in any such district of concern."
