New Delhi: Nearly 10.5 lakh beneficiaries have received anti-Coronavirus shots under the countrywide COVID-19 vaccination exercise as on date, the Union Health ministry said on Friday.
In a span of 24 hours, 2,37,050 people were vaccinated across 4,049 sessions. A total of 18,167 sessions have been conducted so far. On the testing front too, India continues to register growing numbers, the ministry said.
The expansion in testing infrastructure has given a boost in India's fight against the global pandemic. The cumulative testing has crossed 19 crore, it underlined.
India's COVID-19 caseload rose to 1,06,25,428 with 14,545 people testing positive for the infection in a day, while the recoveries have surged to 1,02,83,708, according to the Union Health ministry data updated on Friday.
The death toll increased to 1,53,032 with 163 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.
A total of 8,00,242 samples were tested for COVID-19 in a span of 24 hours which has increased India's total cumulative tests to 19,01,48,024.
"Comprehensive and widespread testing on a sustained basis has resulted in bringing down the positivity rate. The cumulative Positivity Rate stands at 5.59 per cent as of today (Friday)," the ministry said.
Steadily following the trend set over the past weeks, India's active caseload has fallen to 1.78 per cent of the total cases. India's active caseload presently stands at 1,88,688. A total of 18,002 new recoveries were registered in a span of 24 hours. This has led to a net decline of 3,620 cases from the total COVID-19 active caseload in a day.
The ministry said that 84.70 per cent of the new recovered cases are contributed by 10 states and UTs. Kerala saw 6,229 persons recovering from Covid. Maharashtra and Karnataka reported 3,980 and 815 new recoveries, respectively. A total of 14,545 new positive cases were registered in a span of 24 hours.
Eight states and UTs have contributed 84.14 per cent of the new cases. Kerala reported 6,334 cases in a span of 24 hours. Maharashtra recorded 2,886 new cases, while Karnataka registered 674 daily cases.
Over 82 per cent of the 163 case fatalities that have been reported in the past 24 hours are from nine states and UTs. Maharashtra has reported the maximum new daily deaths with 52 deaths. Kerala also saw a fatality count of 21.
Meanwhile, Bharat Biotech has successfully administered second dose of its COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin to 13,000 volunteers as part of its ongoing phase-3 clinical trials of the jab, Suchitra Ella, joint managing director of Bharat Biotech, said on Friday. She said in a tweet: "13,000 volunteers have been successfully administered the 2nd dose in the phase-3 clinical trials of Covaxin. My heartfelt thanks to all of them for their pro-vaccine public health voluntarism." The city-based vaccine maker has successfully completed enrollment of25,800 volunteers for the Phase-3 trials of Covaxin, Ella had earlier said. India's first indigenous vaccine against COVID-19, Covaxin, showed enhanced immune response without any serious side effects in the participants enrolled for the phase 1 trials, according to the results published in The Lancet Infectious Disease journal.