New cases of coronavirus infection in India were recorded over 1.27 lakh, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 2,81,75,044 according to the Union Health Ministry data.
The COVID-19 active caseload is 18,95,520 which now comprises 6.73 per cent of the total infections.
The recovery rate is 92.09 per cent, the data stated.
A total of 1,27,510 new infections were registered in a day, while the death count increased to 3,31,895 with 2,795 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 variant first found in India will henceforth be referred to as the "Delta variant", the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Monday. India had on May 12 objected to it, identified as B.1.617 till now, being labelled the "Indian variant". The world health body had earlier said that viruses or variants should not be identified by the names of countries they were found in.
"The labels don't replace existing scientific names, which convey important scientific information and will continue to be used in research. No country should be stigmatised for detecting and reporting Covid variants," said Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, Technical lead COVID-19 at WHO.
The established nomenclature systems for naming and tracking of SARS-CoV-2 genetic lineages will remain in use by scientists and in scientific research, the WHO has said. A group convened by WHO has recommended using letters of the Greek alphabet, that is Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and so on. This "will be easier and more practical to be discussed by non-scientific audiences," it said.
