NEW DELHI: India witnessed a slight increase in fresh COVID-19 cases with the country reporting 30,615 new infections in the last 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday.
The country recorded 27,409 coronavirus cases on Tuesday.
The daily positivity rate has also increased slightly to 2.45 per cent while the weekly positivity rate is 3.32 per cent. At present, the active caseload of India stands at 3,70,240 accounting for 0.87 per cent of the total cases.
As many as 82,988 people have been recovered from COVID-19 infection in the last 24 hours taking the cumulative recoveries to 4,18,43,446.
A total of 75.42 crore tests have been conducted to detect coronavirus infection in India so far including 12,51,677 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry said.
India has administered 173.86 crore COVID vaccine doses so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.
The COVID cases had begun to show a significant rise following the emergence of the Omicron variant last year.
After witnessing the second wave in April-May last year, COVID-19 cases in India started declining in subsequent months and daily infections reached as low as 5,326 new cases on December 21.
Meanwhile, the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529), a new variant of the coronavirus, was first reported in Botswana on November 11, 2021, and appeared on November 14 in South Africa. India detected its first Omicron case on December 2 last year in Karnataka.
Following the emergence of the Omicron variant, daily cases began rising by December-end and breached the 1-lakh mark on January 7 when 1,17,100 fresh infections were reported. The peak of the surge was recorded on January 21, 2022, when 3,47,254 new cases were recorded in a 24-hour period.
India's cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage exceeded 173.86 crore on Wednesday with the administration of over 41.54 lakh vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
As per the health ministry, with the administration of 41,54,476 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage reached 1,73,86,81,675 doses, as per provisional reports till 7 am today.
This has been achieved through 1,95,98,966 sessions, it added.
Of the total doses administered so far, 1,03,99,960 health care workers received the first dose and 99,39,631 second vaccine doses; 1,84,06,271 front line workers were administered the first dose and 1,73,92,895 vaccine doses given as the second dose to front line workers.
According to the health ministry, 4,90,49,014 vaccine doses were administered as the first dose and 42,99,79,799 vaccine doses were given as the second dose in the age group 18-44 years.
Also, in the age group of 45-59 years, 20,18,15,183 people have received the first dose and 17,70,80,381 have received the second dose whereas 12,60,29,897 vaccine doses were administered as first dose and 11,03,22,289 vaccine doses given as the second dose to the people over 60 years.
The ministry informed that 1,79,73,749 precautionary doses have been administered so far. Of these, 39,47,365 doses were given to healthcare workers, 55,72,301 to frontline workers and 84,54,083 to those above 60 years with co-morbidities.
In the age groups 15-18 years, 5,27,06,855 have received the first dose while 1,75,85,751 have been administered the second dose.
The Central Government on Wednesday said that more than 11.88 crore unutilized COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with the States and Union Territories to be administered.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, "More than 171.48 crore (1,71,48,89,260) vaccine doses have been provided to States/UTs so far through Government of India (free of cost channel) and through the direct state procurement category."
"More than 11.88 crore (11,88,59,356) balance and unutilized COVID vaccine doses are still available with the States/UTs to be administered," it added.
The nationwide COVID-19 vaccination started on January 16, 2021. The new phase of universalization of COVID-19 vaccination commenced on June 21, 2021.
The vaccination drive has been ramped up through the availability of more vaccines, advanced visibility of vaccine availability to States and UTs for enabling better planning by them and streamlining the vaccine supply chain.
As part of the nationwide vaccination drive, the Centre has been supporting the States and UTs by providing them COVID vaccines free of cost.
In the new phase of the universalization of the COVID-19 vaccination drive, the Union Government will procure and supply (free of cost) 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by the vaccine manufacturers in the country to States and UTs.