India’s daily Covid-19 cases have increased by 67,084 in the last 24 hours, according to health ministry data updated on Thursday. According to the data, the death toll rose to 506,520 with 1,241 fresh deaths.
The ministry said on Wednesday that active cases accounted for 2.11% of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has risen to 96.70%. A decrease of 1,02,063 cases was recorded in the active Covid-19 caseload in the 24-hour period.
Meanwhile, India on Thursday crossed the grim milestone of 5 lakh Covid-19 deaths, becoming the third country in the world to do so after the US and Brazil.
It took the country 217 days to reach 5 lakh deaths from 4 lakh recorded on July 1 last year, which was the longest time to record 1 lakh deaths. India was hit by a devastating second wave in April-May last year.
The death toll in the country had crossed the three lakh mark on 23 May and two lakh on 27 April. The death toll had crossed one lakh on October 2, 2020.
The total deaths have gone up to 5,00,055 with 1,072 daily fatalities, as per Union Health Ministry data updated at 8 am.
The US has the highest number of deaths due to the infection, with over 9.2 lakh deaths, followed by Brazil with over 6.3 lakh deaths, according to Worldometer, which is compiling global COVID-19 data.
India is currently facing the third wave of COVID, driven by the highly permeable Omron version. However, according to experts, the cases are mostly mild as compared to the second wave.
The government on Thursday said that the pandemic situation has improved and even though there are states and districts of concern, overall there is contraction in the spread of COVID-19 infection.
In a press conference, Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health Ministry said that 34 states and union territories, including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat, are reporting a week-on-week decline in cases and positivity, while Kerala And Mizoram still remains two states of concern.
There has been a steady decline in the daily COVID-19 cases, daily active cases and daily positivity rate, indicating a reduction in the spread of the infection.
He said that with the increase in the administration of vaccine doses, a decline in the death rate in the COVID-19 case has been observed.
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