India records 51,667 COVID-19 cases, 1,329 deaths in a day
New Delhi: A single-day rise of 51,667 COVID-19 infections took India's case tally to 3,01,34,445 while the weekly positivity rate declined to 3 per cent, according to Union Health Ministry data on Friday.
The death toll climbed to 3,93,310 with 1,329 more people succumbing to the viral disease in a day.
The number of active cases has further declined to 6,12,868 and now comprises 2.03 per cent of the total infections. A net decline of 14,189 active cases has been recorded in a day, the data updated at 8 am showed.
Recoveries outnumbered daily new cases of COVID-19 for the 43rd consecutive day with the number of people who have recuperated from the disease surging to 2,91,28,267. The case fatality rate stood at 1.31 per cent.
While the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 96.66 per cent, the weekly case positivity rate has come down to 3 per cent.
According to the Health Ministry data, the daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.98 per cent. It has been less than 5 per cent for 18 consecutive days.
India administered 60.73 lakh vaccine doses in a day taking the cumulative number of jabs given so far under the nationwide inoculation drive to 30.79 crore, according to immunisation data published at 7 am.
Also, 17,35,781 tests were conducted on Wednesday for the detection of COVID-19, taking the total number of tests conducted so far in the country to 39,95,68,448.
India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7 last year, 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.
The country crossed the grim milestone of 2 crore total COVID-19 cases on May 4 this year and 3 crore on June 23.
Of the total 3,93,310 deaths reported so far in the country include 1,19,859 in Maharashtra, 34,425 in Karnataka, 31,901 in Tamil Nadu, 24,948 in Delhi, 22,366 in Uttar Pradesh, 17,516 in West Bengal, 15,944 in Punjab and 13,415 in Chhattisgarh.
The Health Ministry has stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths reported so far have 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.
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We received request; will decide soon whether to support TVK: Thirumavalavan
Chennai (PTI): VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan on Thursday said that his party received a request from TVK for support and the high-level committee of his party will decide whether to support the Vijay-led party to form the government.
The TVK won 108 seats in the 234-member Assembly and emerged as the single largest party. Vijay will have to resign from one of the two constituencies he has won.
Though the Congress party, which has five MLAs, has extended support to TVK, the actor-politician-led party was still short of as many seats to touch the magic number of 118, the majority mark in the 234-member House.
"We received the request letter from TVK. We are thankful for that. We have not ignored his (Vijay's) request. We have a procedure. Therefore, our party's high-level committee will decide soon. We are going to discuss the merits and demerits of our position," the VCK leader told reporters here.
With regard to the delay in the governor's call to the TVK, which is the single largest party, to form the government, Thirumavalavan requested the governor to invite Vijay to form the government. "It is a constitutional right and people's verdict," he added.
Asserting that the governor cannot say that Vijay should hold 118 MLAs' support now itself to form the government, he said that after taking over power, Vijay has to prove an absolute majority only on the floor of the Assembly.
