COVID-19 caseload rises to 96.44L with 36,011 new cases

New Delhi: India's COVID-19 caseload rose to 96.44 lakh, while the total number of people who have recuperated from the disease crossed 91 lakh pushing the national recovery rate to 94.37 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.

The COVID-19 active caseload plunged to almost 4 lakh after 138 days.

The total Coronavirus cases mounted to 96,44,222 with 36,011 new infections being reported in a day, while the death toll crossed to 1.40 lakh with 482 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed. New cases per million population in India in the last seven days are 186. It is one of the lowest in the world, the ministry underlined. Also, the daily registered deaths per million population during the past week when compared globally demonstrate that India has one of the lowest at 3 deaths/million population.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 91,00,792 pushing the national recovery rate to 94.37 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.45 per cent.

There are 4,03,248 active Coronavirus infections in the country which comprises 4.18 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

According to the ICMR, 14,69,86,575 samples have been tested up to December 5 with 11,01,063 samples being tested on Saturday.

The Serum Institute of India on Sunday became the first indigenous company to apply to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) seeking emergency use authorisation for the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine in the country citing unmet medical needs due to the pandemic and in the interest of the public at large, official sources said.

A day earlier, the Indian arm of US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer became the first to seek a similar approval from India's drug regulator for its own COVID-19 vaccine in the country, after securing such clearance in the UK and Bahrain.