COVID-19: India records 39,070 new cases, 491 deaths; vaccination tally nears 51 crore mark

NEW DELHI: With 39,070 people testing positive for coronavirus infection, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 3,19,34,455, while the death toll climbed to 4,27,862 with 491 fresh fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.

The active cases have declined to 4,06,822 and comprise 1.27 per cent of the total infections and the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 97.39 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.

A decrease of 5,331 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,10, 99,771, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.34 per cent, the data stated.

Cumulatively 50.68 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered under the nationwide vaccination drive till Sunday morning.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 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, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.

The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 50.62 crore, the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday.

Over 50 lakh doses have been administered on Saturday, according to the 7 pm provisional report.

The ministry said that on Saturday in the age group of 18-44 years, 27,55,447 vaccine doses were administered as the first jabs and 5,08,616 as the second one.

Cumulatively, 17,54,73,103 people in the age group of 18-44 years across all states and Union Territories have received their first dose and 1,18,08,368 their second dose since the start of phase three of the vaccination drive.

Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have administered more than over crore doses of COVID-19 Vaccine in the same age group.

Also, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand, Kerala, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Uttarakhand and West Bengal have provided the first dose of vaccine to more than 10 lakh beneficiaries of the age group 18-44 years, the ministry said.

As on day 204 of the vaccination drive, a total of 50,00,384 vaccine doses was given of which 36,88,660 beneficiaries were vaccinated for the first dose and 13,11,724 received the second dose of vaccine according to the provisional report.

The final reports would be completed for the day by late night.

The vaccination exercise as a tool to protect the most vulnerable population groups in the country from COVID-19 continues to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level, the ministry underlined.