India’s Covid positivity rate past 1 per cent again after two months

@the_news_21

India’s Covid case positivity rate went past one per cent again after over two months as the country witnessed a single-day rise of 3,157 infections and 26 fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday.

The rise reported on Monday pushed the country’s overall Covid tally to 4,30,82,345 cases and 5,23,869 deaths, the data said.

The number of active cases rose by 408 in a 24-hour span to reach 19,500, the data updated at 8 am showed.

At 1.07 per cent, the daily positivity went past one per cent again after a little over two months, the ministry said. It was at 1.11 per cent on February 27.

The weekly positivity rate was 0.70 per cent, according to the health ministry.

Positivity rate refers to percentage of all coronavirus tests performed that return positive result. A higher positive rate means higher transmission rate for the virus.

The death toll has now climbed to 5,23,869 with the latest 26 fatalities being reported, 21 of them from Kerala alone.

The active cases constitute 0.05 per cent of the total infections. The country’s COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.74 per cent, the health ministry said.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease rose to 4,25,38,976, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.22 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 189.23 crore.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.

It surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.

The 26 new fatalities include 21 from Kerala, two from Odisha and one each from Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

A total of 5,23,869 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,47,843 from Maharashtra, 69,068 from Kerala, 40,102 from Karnataka, 38,025 from Tamil Nadu, 26,175 from Delhi, 23,508 from Uttar Pradesh and 21,202 from West Bengal.

The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

Our figures are being reconciled with (those of) the Indian Council of Medical Research, the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.