Covid-19: At 8.4%, daily positivity rate below 10% for 5th day in a row

New Delhi: The daily Covid-19 positivity rate dropped to 8.4% on Friday to remain at less than 10% for five consecutive days now, largely driven by fall in daily new cases. While less than 2 lakh cases were reported during the last two consecutive days, on Friday 1.7 lakh new cases of Covid-19 were detected after testing 20.80 lakh samples from across the country.

The weekly positivity rate also declined steadily to 9.8% this week after a high of 22.6% in the first week of May. The drop in positivity is driven by steady decline in daily new cases which have remained at less than 3 lakh for 13 consecutive days now.
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The active caseload has also reduced to 22.3 lakh, whereas recovery rate now stands at 90.8%. Even as the Centre has issued caution to states to maintain focus on containment measures going forward to sustain the gains and advised people to continue with Covid-appropriate behaviour, including wearing of masks and maintain physical distance, it is also planning a major ramping up of vaccination which has slowed down in recent weeks.

With vaccine supplies likely to increase in next few months, the Centre has asked states to draw up plans in advance to ensure smooth vaccination across all districts, mainly covering the priority population groups of 45 years and above along with enhanced coverage of health and frontline workers.
“Going forward, vaccination will have to be the focus, and as economic activities open up people will have to maintain Covid-appropriate behavior because vaccines can only protect from severe disease,” an official said.