COVID-19: India records 26,727 fresh cases and 277 fatalities in last 24 hrs

India reported 26,727 fresh COVID-19 cases and 277 coronavirus deaths in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday,  This brings the country's total COVID-19 count to 3,37,66,707 and death toll to 4,48,339.

With Friday's addition, India now has 2,75,224 active coronavirus cases, the lowest in recent days. The active caseload accounts for 0.82% of all infections. In the last 24 hours, 28,246 persons have recovered from the virus, bringing India's overall recovery to 3,30,43,144.

The recovery rate in India was 97.86% on Friday and is the highest since March 2020. In terms of COVID-19 testings, a total of 57,04,77,338 samples were tested up to September 30, with 15,20,899 samples tested on September 30 alone, according to ICMR data released today. 

COVID-19 cases in India

With a steady fall in the active COVID-19 cases, the daily numbers continue to hike. That being said, Kerala still has the most infections with 15,914 fresh cases on Thursday. This is a major hike from the previous day, raising India's coronavirus cases to 27,363, which is the highest in the last five days. With 149 more deaths, the death toll reached 24,810. In the meantime, the state reported 18,849 recoveries. In the last 24 hours, 96,436 samples were tested in Kerla.

Kerala is followed by Tamil Nadu, Mizoram, Andhra Pradesh, and West Bengal in terms of total COVID-19 cases.  

COVID vaccination in India

India has successfully administered 89,02,08,007 crore COVID-19 vaccines as part of the world's largest inoculation campaign, thus achieving another landmark after crossing the 89 crore mark. In the last 24 hours, 64,40,451 of these were administered. More than eight months after launching the COVID-19 vaccination program, India completed delivering both doses of the vaccine to over 25% of the country's estimated adult population.

Meanwhile, the Central government has been supporting the states and UTs by providing them COVID-19 vaccines free of cost. As per that, more than 87.25 crore (87,25,58,985) vaccine doses have been provided to States/UTs so far through the Government of India (free of cost channel) and via the direct state procurement category.

More than five crore (5,00,47,650) unutilized COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with states/UTs.

(Image: PTI)