COVID-19: India reports 31,382 fresh cases and 318 fatalities in last 24 hrs

As India struggles to fight the deadly COVID-19 virus, it reported 31,382 fresh coronavirus cases on Friday with 32,542 recoveries and 318 deaths in the past 24 hours. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), out of the total infections, the active cases account for 0.89%, the lowest since March 2020. Currently, there are 3,00,162 active cases in the country. Meanwhile, Kerala has recorded 19,682 COVID cases and 152 deaths on Thursday, September 23. 

To date, 3,28,48,273 patients have recovered from COVID-19 as India’s recovery rate stands at 97.78 per cent. Furthermore, the Health Ministry states that the daily positivity rate stands at 2.00 per cent that has been less than 3 per cent for the past 25 days. Also, the weekly positivity rate stands at 2.07 per cent which has been below 3 per cent for the last 91 days. 

India's COVID vaccination drive

To date, India has administered a total of 84,15,18,026 COVID vaccine doses across 56,082 vaccination sites. Earlier on September 21, the Health Ministry announced that states and union territories have received more than 80.13 crores COVID-19 vaccine doses and more than 4.52 crore balance and unused doses still available. In a major milestone achievement, India administered over 2.5 crore vaccine doses against Coronavirus on September 17. 

While on September 16, the Ministry informed that India has exceeded the average daily COVID-19 vaccination rate of the world's 18 major countries. The world's 18 major countries have administered 81,70,000 (8.17 million) doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. India has administered 85,40,000 (8.54 million) doses. Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Russia are among the nations on this list.

Meanwhile, providing details on the overall population, the ministry said that almost 99% of healthcare workers, 100% frontline workers, and 66% population aged above 18 have received their first doses, whereas 84% healthcare workers, 80% frontline workers, and 23% of people aged above 18 has received their second doses.  

COVID-19 threat in Kerala

Kerala still remains under the threat of the deadly virus as it continues to report a high number of infections on a daily basis with an increasing death toll. Some of its districts contribute the maximum number of cases including Thrissur reporting the highest followed by Ernakulam, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kottayam, Malappuram, Palakkad, Alappuzha, and Kannur. 

Image: PTI