New Delhi: As India grapples with a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, more than 40 lakh vaccine doses were administered in the past 24 hours for the first time since the drive began in January. With this, over 8 crore inoculations have been carried out in the country so far.
Meanwhile, India’s case fatality rate — a ratio of deaths to the total number of cases recorded — has been consistently lowering, dropping to 1.30 in the last 24 hours.
While the rapid drop in CFR has been attributed to the increase in total active cases, it is not the only factor.
A comparison of the CFR since the beginning of the pandemic and the CFR of closed cases — the percentage of deaths from cases whose outcome is known (recovered or died) — reveals that even if rising active cases are taken out of the equation, fatality rate has been declining.
The rate, however, started declining more rapidly since mid-March with the increase in active cases.
Active cases
Active cases in India increased to 7,88,223 — the highest since October. Maharashtra continues to have the highest share of active cases in the country while Chhattisgarh now has the second-highest active cases in the country.
Daily cases
In the last 24 hours, 96,982 people tested positive for Covid-19 across the country. More than 48 per cent of the new cases were from Maharashtra.
Number of deaths
As many as 446 people in the country died of Covid-19 over the last 24 hours. This has brought the country’s toll to 1,65,547.
Mortality rate
Punjab’s case fatality is 2.81 and continues to be the highest in the country. Sikkim, which has the second highest rate, saw its CFR increase to 2.17 while Maharashtra, the third highest, saw its value decrease to 1.83.
Daily vaccinations
In the last 24 hours, vaccinations across the country were scaled up to 43,00,966. This is the highest number of vaccines shots administered in a day since the drive started in India on 16 January.
So far, 8,31,10,926 vaccine doses have been administered in India and 1,08,33,617 people have received both doses of the vaccine.
Daily tests
In the last 24 hours, 12,11,612 Covid tests were carried out across 1,228 government and 1,215 private laboratories in the country. Over 25 crore tests have been carried out in the country since the pandemic began.
Test positivity rate
The test positivity reduced to 8 per cent in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, the overall positivity, calculated since the beginning of the pandemic, increased to 5 per cent.
Recovered cases
As many as 50,143 Covid patients have been discharged from hospitals across India in the last 24 hours. This has brought the total number of recoveries since the beginning of the pandemic to 1,17,32,279.
Total cases
As many as 1,26,86,049 people in India have been infected with Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. The largest number of cases so far reported are from Maharashtra, followed by Kerala and Karnataka.
States with highest active cases
Active cases in Maharashtra increased to 4,52,777 after 47,288 new cases were reported from the state in the past 24 hours.
A total of 30,57,885 people from Maharashtra have been infected with Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. Of these, 56,033 people have died, with 155 deaths reported in the last 24 hours.
Chhattisgarh now has the second-highest number of active cases in the country. In the last 24 hours, 7,302 new cases were reported, which has increased active cases to 44,296.
A total of 3,76,348 cases have been detected from the state. As many as 44 patients succumbed to the infection in the last 24 hours, which has taken the state’s death toll to 4,363.
Active cases in Karnataka increased to 42,502 in the past 24 hours, with 5,279 new cases.
A total of 10,20,434 Covid-19 cases have been reported in the state, so far.
With 32 deaths in the last 24 hours, the death toll increased to 12,657.
In Kerala, active cases increased to 28,685, with 479 new cases of Covid-19 reported in the last 24 hours.
This has taken the total number of cases detected from the state to 11,37,590. With 12 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the state’s Covid-19 death toll increased to 4,680.
In Punjab, active cases increased to 25,419, with 2,692 new cases reported in the last 24 hours.
A total of 2,54,152 people in the state have been infected by the virus. With 72 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the state’s Covid-19 death toll increased to 7,155.
(Edited by Rachel John)