India reports 20,038 new COVID-19 cases, 47 fatalities

New Delhi: India logged a single-day rise of 20,038 new coronavirus infections, pushing the tally of cases to 4,37,10,027, while the count of active cases of the disease has increased to 1,39,073, according to Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

The death toll due to the disease has climbed to 5,25,604 with 47 new fatalities being reported, the data updated at 8 am showed.

Active cases now comprise 0.32 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.48 per cent, the health ministry said.

An increase of 2,997 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload of the country in a span of 24 hours, the data showed.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 4.44 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 4.30 per cent, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,30,45,350, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.20 per cent, as per the data.

According to the ministry, 199.47 crore doses of vaccines have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive.

India’s COVID-19 infection tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5, 50 lakh on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and the one-crore mark on December 19, 2020.

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

Forty-seven new fatalities due to the disease were reported in the country – 20 from Kerala, five from West Bengal, four from Maharashtra, three from Punjab, two each from Assam, Bihar, Haryana and Uttarakhand, and one each from Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Nagaland and Sikkim.