India reports 62,480 fresh COVID-19 cases and 1,587 deaths, active cases dip below 8 lakh

According to the Union Health Ministry, India reported 62,480 new COVID-19 cases and 1,587 fatalities on Friday, June 18, bringing the total number of cases and deaths to 2.97 crore and 3.83 lakh, respectively, with a daily positive rate of 3.24 percent. It also stated that India's weekly positivity rate has dropped to 3.80%. The number of infectious cases in India has fallen to 7.98 lakh for the first time in 73 days, according to the Health Ministry, with 2.85 crore patients recovering from the infection, bringing the country's recovery rate to 96.03 percent.

COVID-19 cases update

The steady drop in daily COVID-19 cases has allowed states and union territories (UTs) to relax the lockdown and other Coronavirus-related restrictions. However, the concern of a probable third wave of the pandemic persists, forcing numerous states and UTs to maintain the restrictions. In the midst of this, a survey undertaken by the World Health Organization and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences found that the third wave will not harm children because the seropositivity rate among children is higher than that of the adult population.

COVID-19 situation in states

Kerala recorded the most cases in the last 24 hours. The infection count in Maharashtra's Thane district increased to 5,26,945 with the addition of 469 coronavirus positive cases on Friday, according to an official.  He said these cases were reported on Thursday. During the day, the virus took the lives of 37 people, bringing the district's death toll to 10,427. At the moment, Thane's COVID-19 mortality rate is 1.97 percent, he added. The number of coronavirus cases in the Palghar district has risen to 1,14,408, with 2,456 deaths, according to another official.

Also, Karnataka's health department reported 5,983 new COVID-19 cases and 138 deaths on Thursday, bringing the overall number of infections to 27.90 lakh and the death toll to 33,434. The number of discharges continued to outweigh new cases on the day, bringing the total number of recoveries in the state to 26,10,157. On Thursday, 1,209 of the 5,983 new cases recorded were from Bengaluru Urban, which saw 1,510 discharges and 17 deaths. In total, there are 1,46,726 active cases in the state. Meanwhile, 9,118, and 5,983 cases were reported in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh respectively.

Picture Credit: PTI