India reported a daily jump of 30,254 coronavirus infections in 24 hours, taking its tally to 98.57 lakhs, the Health Ministry data this morning showed. The country has a total of 98,57,029 infections, the second-highest in the world after the United States, but the daily tally has been slowly dropping since hitting a peak in September. In the 24-hour period, India, reported 391 deaths linked to the virus, taking the total number of fatalities to 1,43,019. 15,37,11,833 samples have been tested up to December 12 with 10,14,434 samples being tested on Saturday, according to the ICMR.
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93,57,464 have recovered from the virus so far, pushing the national recovery rate to 94.93 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.45 per cent. The COVID-19 active caseload remained below 4 lakh for the seventh consecutive day.
With 5,949 cases, Kerala witnessed the highest jump in 24 hours, taking its Covid tally to 6,64,662.
The southern state was followed by Maharashtra, which recorded 4,259 fresh cases. Maharashtra is the worst-hit state with a tally of 18,76,699. Eighty people have died in the state in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 48,139 since the outbreak in January.
Other states in the top-five of the worst-hit list are Karnataka with 1,203 fresh cases, followed by Andhra Pradesh (510) and Tamil Nadu (1,218).
Delhi, meanwhile, recorded 1,935 fresh cases and 47 fatalities linked to the disease on Saturday, the lowest single-day death count since November 2. The national capital has also witnessed a drop in the positivity rate to 2.64 per cent.
People in Kerala will be vaccinated for free whenever the COVID-19 vaccine becomes available, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said yesterday. With this announcement, Kerala joins a growing list of states that have said they would vaccinate people for free, such as BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. The BJP promised free vaccination in Bihar just before election to the legislative assembly in October.
India will deploy its vast election machinery to deliver 600 million doses of Covid vaccines to the most vulnerable people in the next six to eight months through conventional cold chain systems, an expert leading the initiative was quoted as saying by news agency Reuters.
Only 100 people per "session" are likely to be vaccinated, the centre has said in a document that explores how best to deploy the vaccine whenever it is available. The number of people per "session" may go up to 200 if logistics allow, it added.
India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23 and 40 lakh on September 5. It went past 50 lakh on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, and surpassed 90 lakh on November 20.
The United States, the worst-hit country in the world, hit a record 16 million COVID-19 cases on Saturday afternoon, with deaths closing in on the 300,000 mark, even as millions of doses of a new vaccine were expected to start rolling out across the nation on Sunday.
