India reports 62,714 new Covid-19 cases, 312 deaths; Maharashtra tops at 35,726 cases

India has reported 62,714 new COVID-19 cases and 312 deaths in the last 24 hours. The health ministry data released today says a total of 28,739 patients were also discharged in the past day. The daily deaths crossed 300 for the first time this year.

Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 35,726. It is followed by Chhattisgarh with 3,162 while Karnataka reported 2,886 new cases. The 312 new fatalities include 166 from Maharashtra, 45 from Punjab, 14 from Kerala, 13 from Chhattisgarh, and 10 from Delhi.

Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu account for 81.46 per cent of the daily new cases registered in the last 24 hours.

With the current rise, the total case tally has touched 1.19 crore, including 1,13 crore recoveries, 4.8 lakh active cases and 1.6 lakh deaths. Registering a steady increase in new Covid cases for the 18th day in a row, the recovery rate has dropped to 94.58 per cent.

The new cases have risen to over after over four months. The country had reported as many as 63,371 new infections in 24 hours on October 16, 2020. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19, 2020.

The total tests conducted across India so far have also exceeded 24 crore, while the cumulative positivity rate continues to remain below 5 per cent.

As per the ministry, the country's total vaccination coverage has surpassed 6 crore today. A total of 6,02,69,782 vaccine doses have been administered through 9,85,018 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am today.

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