India sees lowest single-day rise in COVID-19 caseload since 2020
What's the story
India on Monday reported 2,503 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest single-day rise in about two years. The active caseload in the country currently stands at 36,168, which accounts for 0.09% of the total cases and is the lowest in 675 days. In the past 24 hours, 27 fatalities and 4,377 recoveries were reported. Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 98.72%.
Context
Why does this story matter?
The COVID-19 surge recorded on Monday is the lowest daily rise since May 2, 2020. As per the current official statistics, India's COVID-19 status has improved significantly. Notably, India had seen a significant spike of coronavirus infections around the end of December 2021 and the beginning of January this year. This increase in cases, dubbed "India's third wave," was attributed to the Omicron variant.
Statistics
Over 4,000 patients recovered
According to data from the Union Health Ministry, India reported 4,29,93,494 COVID-19 cases till Monday morning, while the cumulative death count reached 5,15,877. With 4,377 recoveries in 24 hours, the number of total recoveries in the country climbed to 4,24,41,449. Both daily positivity and weekly positivity rates were recorded at 0.47%. On Sunday, the country registered 3,116 infections, 47 deaths, and 5,559 recoveries.
Vaccination
Vaccination coverage crosses 180 crore
According to Health Ministry's data, India's vaccination coverage has crossed 180.19 crore, with 20,31,275 doses administered to eligible beneficiaries in the past 24 hours. In this period, nearly nine crore youngsters aged 15 to 18 years have been vaccinated and precautionary doses have been administered to over 2.12 crore beneficiaries, including health and frontline workers and people over the age of 60 with comorbidities.
Data
States and UTs received free supply of vaccines
The Health Ministry said on Monday over 182.79 crore vaccines have been provided to states and union territories (UTs) through free-of-cost channels and direct procurement. "More than 17.38 crore balance and unutilized vaccine doses are still available with the States/UTs to be administered," it added.
Testing
Over 5.3 lakh tests conducted in one day
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said 5,32,232 samples were tested for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. It said the fresh tests brought the entire testing figures close to 78 crores. ICMR is the main research agency involved in COVID-19 testing and quality assessment of all labs. Recently, it passed nearly 891 RT-PCR labs (93%) for COVID-19 testing in the country.
Study
Global deaths may be higher than official figures: Study
Meanwhile, according to a study recently published in Lancet medical journal, the death toll from the pandemic may be three times greater than the official COVID-19 data suggests. The researchers discovered that COVID-19 claimed at least 18.2 million lives in the first two years of the pandemic. Notably, India contributed to 22% of worldwide COVID-19-related mortality, or 4.1 million deaths, according to the study.