India records 17,073 new Covid cases, 21 deaths; daily positivity rate 5.62 per cent

NEW DELHI: India logged 17,073 new coronavirus infections, raising its tally to 4,34,07,046, while the daily positivity crossed 5 per cent after over four months, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday.

The death toll climbed to 5,25,020 with 21 fresh fatalities, data updated at 8 am by the ministry stated. The active cases increased to 94,420, comprising 0.22 per cent of the total infections.

The national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.57 per cent, the ministry said. An increase of 1,844 cases was recorded in the active COVID-19 case count in a span of 24 hours, as per the data.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 5.62 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 3.39 per cent, it stated. The daily positivity crossed 5 per cent after a gap of 139 days.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,27,87,606, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.21 per cent.

According to the ministry, 197.11 crore doses of vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 inoculation drive.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.

It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore cases on May 4, 2021, three crore on June 23 and four crore cases on January 25 this year.

The 21 new fatalities include six from Kerala, five from Maharashtra, four from Delhi, two each from Goa and Punjab and one each from Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh, the data stated.