India on Sunday recorded 1,761 fresh coronavirus infections, the lowest in around 688 days, that took its tally to 4,30,07,841, while the active cases declined further to 26,240, according to Union health ministry data.
The death count climbed to 5,16,479 with 127 daily fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.
The active cases comprise 0.06 per cent of the total infections. The national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.74 per cent, it showed.
A reduction of 1,562 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.41 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate stood at 0.41 per cent, the ministry said.
The last 24 hours saw a total of 4,31,973 COVID-19 tests being conducted. India has so far conducted over 78.26 crore tests, it said.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,24,65,122. The case fatality rate was recorded at 1.20 per cent, it added.
The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive have exceeded 181.21 crore.
Here are the Highlights on Coronavirus cases in India:
India's top body on immunisation NTAGI has recommended administering the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine Covishield between eight and 16 weeks after the first dose, official sources close to PTI said on Sunday Presently, the second dose of Covishield is given between 12-16 weeks after the first dose under the National COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy.
Expressing concern over the misinformation brewing around the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Saturday said that several factors, including misinformation, are fueling the recent spike in cases across the world.
Pakistan reported 375 new COVID-19 cases over the last 24 hours, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said on Sunday.
According to the NCOC, the total number of confirmed cases has increased to 1,521,888, including 1,475,759 recoveries in the country, Xinhua reported.
Over the last 24 hours, one person succumbed to the disease, taking the total number of coronavirus deaths to 30,329, showed the NCOC data.
Ladakh reported two fresh COVID-19 cases that pushed the infection tally to 28,202 on Sunday.
Nine patients recovered from the disease, taking the overall recoveries to 27,934.
The number of active cases stands at 40 - 38 in Leh district and two in Kargil district.
No Covid-related death was reported in the Union Territory, which has so far recorded 228 fatalities linked to the pandemic since its outbreak.
Of the total fatalities, Leh accounted for the highest 168 deaths followed by 60 in Kargil.
The union territory of Puducherry logged only one new coronavirus case in the last 24 hours and zero fatalities on Sunday.
The solitary infection reported from the Puducherry region was detected at the end of the examination of 401 samples and took the overall tally to 1,65,759.
No fresh fatality was reported from any of the four regions-Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam and the death count remained at 1,962.
Four patients recovered and were discharged during the last 24 hours ending 10 AM Sunday and the overall recoveries climbed to 1,63,780.
China's financial hub Shanghai reported record high new Covid infections as it implemented mass mandated testing to reduce transmissions of the virus.
The new cases as of Saturday include 17 confirmed local infections and 492 that are asymptomatic, Wu Jinglei, director of the Shanghai Heath Commission, said at a press conference on Sunday.
Wu called for increased effort to scale up testing, which has been effective in identifying cases and helping block further transmission. China has allowed the use of rapid antigen tests kits to ease the demand from people to be diagnosed.
Expressing concern over the misinformation brewing around the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Saturday said that several factors, including misinformation, are fueling the recent spike in cases across the world.
WHO's COVID-19 Technical Lead Maria Van Kerkhove pointed out that misinformation such as the pandemic is over, Omicron is mild and that it is the last variant of COVID-19, are causing a lot of confusion and allowing the virus to thrive.
"We have huge amounts of misinformation that's out there. The misinformation that Omicron is mild. Misinformation that the pandemic is over. Misinformation that this is the last variant that we will have to deal with. This is really causing a lot of confusion," Ms Kerkhove said.
Arunachal Pradesh reported a single COVID-19 case on Sunday, pushing the tally to 64,484.
As many as 64,179 people have recuperated from the disease thus far in the state including, three on Saturday.
The COVID-19 death toll in the northeastern state remained at 296, as no fresh fatality was reported in the last 24 hours.
The fresh coronavirus case was detected from Lohit district.
China on Saturday reported 1,656 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, the National Health Commission said Sunday.
Of the new local infections, 1,191 were reported in the province of Jilin, 158 in Fujian, 51 in Shandong, 51 in Guangdong, and 39 in Liaoning respectively, Xinhua reported.
The rest of the cases were reported in 15 other provincial-level regions, including Gansu and Tianjin, as per Xinhua.
A total of 81 imported COVID-19 cases were reported Saturday, said the commission's report.
Meanwhile, China's zero-COVID policy is pushing cash-strapped local governments to the brink amid rising health care costs and efforts to control debt.
Four COVID-19 patients are currently undergoing treatment in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a health bulletin said.
The caseload remained unchanged at 10,029 as no new case was registered. The toll stood at 129.
A total of 9,896 people have recovered from the disease so far, it said.
The administration has thus far tested over 7.07 lakh samples for COVID-19, and fully vaccinated 3.04 lakh people.With the addition of six coronavirus positive cases, the infection count in Thane district of Maharashtra mounted to 7,08,672 on Sunday.
As nobody succumbed to the infection in the district during the day, the death count remained unchanged at 11,879.
Thane's COVID-19 mortality rate is 1.67 per cent.
Global Covid Cases: "Tip Of The Iceberg": WHO On Global Covid SpikeFigures showing a global rise in COVID-19 cases could herald a much bigger problem as some countries also report a drop in testing rates, the WHO said on Tuesday, warning nations to remain vigilant against the virus.
Amid a resurgence of Covid cases across Southeast Asia and Europe, the government on Thursday warned states not to let their guard down and advised them to continue focus on the five-fold strategy of "test, track, treat, follow Covid-appropriate behaviour and vaccinate" while resuming economic and social activities in their jurisdiction.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, in his letter to all states and union territories, also asked them to ensure adequate testing of samples to ensure timely detection of new variants and also to motivate people to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
"States should also ensure that adequate number of samples are submitted to INSACOG network through Sentinel sites as per the protocol issued by National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), which is the Nodal Agency for INSACOG, to ensure timely detection of new variants while maintaining adequate testing as per the protocols for testing laid by ICMR. Effective surveillance by monitoring of emerging clusters of new cases, if any, testing as per norms and monitoring of ILI and SARI cases shall be taken up on a continued basis to ensure no early warning signals are missed and spread of infection can be controlled," Mr Bhushan said in the letter.
