Covid-19 India Updates: 60,000 New Infections; Active Cases Just Above 9 Lakh

Active Covid-19 cases stood just above 9 lakh in India as the daily infection rate continued to ease in a country battling the world’s second worst outbreak.

Just over 60,000 people tested positive for the deadly pathogen in the last 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry’s update as of 8 a.m. on June 15. The daily positivity rate is at 3.45%, less than 10% for 22 consecutive days.

Recoveries during the same period remained above 1 lakh, taking active infections to 9.13 lakh -- the lowest since April 8.

Despite the sharp drop in daily infection rate, the daily fatality rate remains elevated. 2,726 patients succumbed to the illness in a matter of 24 hours, taking the country’s total death toll to 3.77 lakh.

Key Figures

• Total number of confirmed coronavirus cases: 2,95,70,881
• Active cases: 9,13,378
• Total patients cured or discharged: 2,82,80,472
• Deaths: 3,77,031
• Number of fresh cases in last 24 hours: 60,471
• One-day recoveries: 1,17,525
• One-day deaths: 2,726
• Total vaccination shots administered: 25,90,44,072

Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer and AstraZeneca have been found to be highly effective at preventing hospitalisation of those infected with the delta variant originally detected in India.

The Pfizer and BioNTech SE shot is 96% effective against hospitalisation after two doses, while the AstraZeneca and University of Oxford Covid inoculation is 92% effective, according to an analysis by Public Health England. Those results are comparable with the protection offered against the alpha variant, which first emerged in Britain, the data show.