India added 25,467 new COVID-19 cases, while the active cases declined to 3,19,551, comprising 0.98 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.
The total tally of COVID-19 cases has increased to 3,24,74,773.
The death toll has climbed to 4,35,110 with 354 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.
The active cases were the lowest in 156 days, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 97.68 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said.
A reduction of 14373 cases has been recorded in the total number of active COVID-19 cases in a span of 24 hours.
Also, 16,47,526 tests were conducted on Monday, taking the cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 50,93,91,792.
India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has surpassed the cumulative figure of 58.89 Cr (58,89,97,805) as per provisional reports till 7 am today. This has been achieved through 65,03,493 sessions.
At least 1.6 crore people in India are yet to get second shot of the Covid vaccine, a report by the health ministry noted. The 1.6 crore figure was arrived at by looking at how many people had got their first shots as of May 2 and comparing it with the total number of those who have so far got their second. Over a crore of them are among the elderly, and the rest are from other vulnerable groups such as health and frontline workers and those aged over 45. The government had on May 13 approved a gap of 12-16 weeks for Covishield, which accounts for over 85% of all vaccinations; for Covaxin, it’s a much shorter 4-6 weeks.
Meanwhile, the Centre is in discussion with state governments to revise norms to ensure restrictions on public events ahead of major festivities.
“The upcoming festivities are very worrying. It is important to postpone celebrations and festivities for another year. It is very crucial as Delta which caused the second wave continues to be the dominant variant,” an official said.
