COVID-19: India records lowest daily rise in last 54 days; positivity rate dips to 6.62%

Amid all the bad news that's coming in during this unprecedented coronavirus second-wave across India, there is a ray of hope that is showing significant improvement in the current situation. Some considerable trends have been noted over the last 24 hours which is a welcome change in a much-needed direction.

Here are the key trends:

• India recorded a single-day rise of 1,27,510 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest in 54 days, taking the country's infection tally to 2,81,75,044, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday.
• India's active caseload further declined and is below 20 lakhs after 43 days. The active caseload further declined to 18,95,520 as active cases decreased by 1,30,572 in the last 24 hours
• The daily positivity rate also declined to 6.62 percent, remaining below the 10 per cent-mark for the seventh consecutive days, while the weekly positivity rate dropped to 8.64 percent.
• Recoveries continue to outnumber the daily new cases for the 19th successive days, as India witnessed 2,55,287 recoveries in the last 24 hours, the ministry said. The recovery tally of India has reached 2,59,47,629 and the recovery rate stands at 92.09 percent.
• The Union Health Ministry has informed that nearly 21,60,46,638 vaccine doses have been administered so far under the nationwide vaccination drive. 
• Testing capacity substantially ramped up as 34.67 crore tests total conducted so far.

Meanwhile, the death toll due to the virus climbed to 3,31,895 with 2,795 fatalities being recorded in a span of 24 hours. 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 2 crores on May 4.

(With Agency Inputs)