More than 60% of total daily Covid cases in country are in Kerala; 37,593 new cases, 648 fresh fatalities

NEW DELHI: India logged 37,593 new coronavirus infections, while the active cases increased marginally to 3,22,327, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday. Of this, 64 per cent is in Kerala. 24,296 new cases were reported in Kerala.

The total tally of COVID-19 cases increased to 3,25,12,366 and the death toll climbed to 4,35,758 with 648 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am. Kerala accounts for a quarter of the daily death toll.

The active cases comprise 0.99 per cent of the total infections.

The national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.67 per cent, the ministry said.

An increase of 2,776 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

As many as 17,92,755 tests were conducted on Tuesday taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 51,11,84,547.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.10 per cent. It has been less than three per cent for the last 30 days.

The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 1.92 per cent. It has been below three per cent for the last 61 days, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,17,54,281, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.34 per cent, the data stated.

Cumulatively, 59.55 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered under the nationwide vaccination drive till Wednesday morning.

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.

India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.

The 648 new fatalities include 288 from Maharashtra and 173 from Kerala.

A total of 4,35,758 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,36,355 from Maharashtra, 37,184 from Karnataka, 34,761 from Tamil Nadu, 25,079 from Delhi, 22,794 from Uttar Pradesh, 19,757 from Kerala and 18,383 from West Bengal.

The ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.