India reports decline in new coronavirus cases, spike in fatalities

Gulf Today Report

India logged 26,964 new COVID cases in the last 24 hours taking the caseload to 3,35,31,498, while the active cases declined to 301,989, the lowest in 186 days, Union Health Ministry's data showed on Wednesday.

According to the government data updated on Wednesday the number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 32,783,741 and the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.33 per cent as the death toll climbed to 445,768 with 383 fresh fatalities.

People try to console a woman mourning the demise of her relative who died from the coronavirus. AFP

There were 26,115 cases and 252 deaths on Tuesday.

Out of total fresh COVID cases reported in the last 24 hours across the country, 15,768 were reported from Kerala alone while Maharashtra witnessed a slight surge in new cases as there were 3,131 new cases against 2,583 cases on Tuesday, according to the Union Health Ministry's report.

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As per the Health Ministry's data, a total of 34,167 people infected with COVID have recovered, pushing the cumulative recoveries so far to 3,27,83,741. The COVID recovery rate was reported at 97.77 per cent on Wednesday.

A man runs to escape heat emitting from the multiple funeral pyres of COVID-19 victims at a crematorium in New Delhi. AP

At present, India has 3,01,989 active cases, which is 0.90 per cent of the total positive cases registered since 2020.

The daily positivity rate declined to 1.69 per cent, which remained below 3 per cent for the last 23 days, while the weekly positivity rate remained at 2.08 per cent, remaining below 3 per cent for the last 89 days, according to the health ministry.

Meanshile, All Indian children aged 12 or older will become eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations from next month, when drug maker Cadila Healthcare launches its ZyCoV-D product, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The world's first DNA-based COVID-19 vaccine, ZyCoV-D won emergency authorisation from Indian regulators last month. From October, the company, better known as Zydus Cadila, will produce 10 million doses a month.