India reports 51,667 COVID-19 cases in 24 hours, active cases dip to 2.08%; key points

A single-day rise of 51,667 infections took India's case tally to 3,01,34,445 while the weekly positivity rate declined to 3 per cent, according to Union Health Ministry data on Friday.

The death toll climbed to 3,93,310 with 1,329 more people succumbing to the viral disease in a day.

The number of active cases has further declined to 6,12,868 and now comprises 2.03 per cent of the total infections. A net decline of 14,189 active cases has been recorded in a day, the data updated at 8 am showed.

Recoveries outnumbered daily new cases of for the 43rd consecutive day with the number of people who have recuperated from the disease surging to 2,91,28,267. The case fatality rate stood at 1.31 per cent.

While the national recovery rate has improved to 96.66 per cent, the weekly case positivity rate has come down to 3 per cent.

According to the Health Ministry data, the daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.98 per cent. It has been less than 5 per cent for 18 consecutive days.

India administered 60.73 lakh vaccine doses in a day taking the cumulative number of jabs given so far under the nationwide inoculation drive to 30.79 crore, according to immunisation data published at 7 am.

Also, 17,35,781 tests were conducted on Wednesday for the detection of , taking the total number of tests conducted so far in the country to 39,95,68,448.

Key data highlights

• Deaths below 1500 for the fifth consecutive day. New cases below 60,000 for the sixth day
• Kerala reports 12.1k new cases, Maharashtra 9.8k, Tamil Nadu 6.2k
• Maharashtra reports 556 new deaths, Tamil Nadu 155, Karnataka 138
• Five states/UTs report rise in active cases
• Active cases in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh now below 50k. Only 3 states now have more than 50k active cases: Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala (all above 1 lakh)
• Difference between new cases reported in the last 7 days and the preceding 7 days is -24 percent (world average is -0.1 percent)
• Total cases in Maharashtra crosses 60 lakh mark (19.9 percent of India's total caseload. 30.4 percent of total deaths in India)
• 60.74 lakh new vaccinations. 30.79 crore total. 52.89 lakh received their first dose yesterday, 7.84 lakh second dose
• Daily vaccinations above 50 lakh for the 4th consecutive day
• 17.36 lakh new tests. Test positivity rate: 2.98 percent (2.91 percent the previous day)
• Test positivity rate below 3 percent for the 4th day. Below 5 percent for 11th day.
• Daily tests below 20 lakh for the 14th consecutive day
• Test positivity rate: Sikkim 19.89 percent, Manipur 11.79 percent, Meghalaya 10.93 percent, Kerala 10.29 percent. Uttar Pradesh 0.04 percent, Madhya Pradesh 0.13 percent, Bihar 0.28 percent

India's tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7 last year, 30 lakh on 23 August, 40 lakh on 5 September and 50 lakh on 16 September. It went past 60 lakh on 28 September, 70 lakh on 11 October, crossed 80 lakh on 29 October, 90 lakh on 20 November and surpassed the one-crore mark on 19 December. The country crossed the grim milestone of 2 crore total cases on 4 May this year and 3 crore on 23 June.