A health worker administers a dose of COVID vaccine to a beneficiary in Chennai.
India recorded 14,313 new cases of the novel coronavirus, along with 549 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 13,543 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 3,36,41,175.
The total active cases of COVID-19 in India have increased to 1,61,555, the ministry data showed.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 60,76,62,619 samples have been tested up to October 29 for COVID-19. Of these 11,76,850 samples were tested on Friday.
The total death toll in the country is now at 4,57,740. In India, the first death due to the COVID pandemic was reported in March 2020.
Meanwhile, Kerala on Friday logged 7,772 fresh cases of COVID-19 infections, pushing the caseload to 49,44,857, while the death toll rose to 31,156 with 471 more deaths.
Of the 471 deaths, 86 were reported in the last few days, 276 were those which were not confirmed until June 18 last year due to lack of adequate documentation and 109 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 6,648 more people recovering from the virus since Thursday, the total recoveries touched 48,43,5768, leaving 78,722 active cases, the release said. As many as 71,681 samples were tested in the last 24 hours.
Additionally, over 66 lakh (66,55,033) vaccine doses have been administered on Thursday till 7 pm, the union health ministry said. According to the ministry, the daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports by late in the night.
The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. The vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2.
