India records 60,753 new COVID-19 cases, active caseload lowest in 74 days

India recorded 60,753 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours and the daily positivity rate has dropped to 2.98 percent, the Union Health Ministry informed on Saturday. The country also witnessed 1,647 deaths due to COVID-19 and 97,743 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

With the new cases, the country's tally has climbed to 2,98,23,546 including 7,60,019 active cases. As many as 3,85,137 people have succumbed to the COVID infection so far, while the cumulative recoveries reached 2,86,78,390.

The daily positivity rate has remained below 5 percent for 12 consecutive days. As recoveries continued to outnumber daily new cases for the 36th consecutive day, the recovery rate in India stands at 96.16 percent.

Maharashtra leads the states with the highest number of infections. It is followed by Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 38,92,07,637 samples were tested for COVID-19, up to June 18 out of these, 19,02,009 samples were tested yesterday. The Union Health Ministry informed that 27,23,88,783 vaccine doses have been administered so far under the vaccination drive in the country. 

The Centre has said that there have been around 81 percent decline in the weekly case positivity rate. There are 513 districts with a COVID-19 positivity rate of less than 5 percent. Around 20 states and Union Territories have below 5,000 active cases.

In other news, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Friday, launched six crash course programs to train around one lakh frontline workers to help fight the deadly pandemic.