India records 42,766 new coronavirus cases, 308 fresh fatalities

With 42,766 people testing positive for the novel coronavirus infection in a day, India's infection tally rose to 3,29,88,673, while active cases registered an increase for the fifth consecutive day, the Union health ministry said on Sunday.

The COVID-19 death toll has climbed to 4,40,533, with 308 new fatalities, according to the ministry data updated at 8 am on Sunday.

The active cases have increased to 4,10,048, comprising 1.24 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.42 per cent, the health ministry said.

An increase of 4,367 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

Less than 50,000 daily new cases are being reported for 70 consecutive days, the ministry said.

It said 17,47,476 tests were conducted on Saturday, taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of the infection in the country to 53,00,58,218. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.45 per cent.

Weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.62 per cent. It has been below 3 per cent for the last 72 days, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,21,38,092 in the country, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.34 per cent, the data stated.

The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive has exceeded 68.46 crore, it said.

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 went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one crore-mark on December 19.

The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 this year and three crore on June 23.

The 308 new fatalities include 142 deaths from Kerala, and 64 from Maharashtra.

A total of 4,40,533 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 1,37,707 from Maharashtra, 37,401 from Karnataka, 35,000 from Tamil Nadu, 25,082 from Delhi, 22,854 from Uttar Pradesh, 21,422 from Kerala and 18,491 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 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.