India's active Covid-19 cases fall below 15,000 after more than 700 days

In a significant development, India's active Covid-19 caseload has declined to 14,704 after 707 days, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday. The active cases now constitute 0.03 percent of the country's total positive cases. The least active caseload was 14,759 on April 21, 2020.

A total of 1,233 fresh Covid cases and 31 deaths were reported in the country in 24 hours, said the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday. The new deaths take the total number to 5,21,101.

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A total of 1,876 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours and the cumulative tally of recovered patients since the beginning of the pandemic is now at 4,24,87,410. Consequently, India's recovery rate stands at 98.75 percent.

Also in the same period, a total of 6,24,022 tests were conducted across the country. India has so far conducted over 78.85 crore cumulative tests. There has been a sustained fall in the weekly and daily positivity rates too. The weekly positivity rate in the country currently stands at 0.25 percent and the daily positivity rate is also reported to be 0.20 percent.

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On the vaccination front, India's Covid-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 183.82 crores as per provisional reports till 7 am on Wednesday. This has been achieved through 2,19,19,610 sessions. Over 1.50 crore adolescents have been administered with the first dose of Covid vaccine since the beginning of the inoculation drive for the 12 to 14 age group, said the ministry on Wednesday morning.

More than 15.95 crore balance and unutilised Covid vaccine doses are still available with the states and union territories to be administered, according to the health ministry as of Wednesday morning.