43,263 Fresh Coronavirus Cases In India, 14% Higher Than Yesterday

Kerala contributed 30,196 cases and 181 deaths in the last 24 hours. The positivity rate, which was witnessing a gradual decline and had dipped below 16 per cent, rose to 17.63 per cent on Wednesday after testing 1,71,295 samples in the last 24 hours.

Maharashtra contributed 4,174 cases and 65 fatalities to India’s daily number. Ahmednagar district reported the highest 786 new infections, followed by Pune district at 529. There are now 47,880 active coronavirus cases in Maharashtra.

The third wave of Covid is already upon Mumbai, the city’s Mayor has said, pointing to a sudden spike in cases. “The third-wave of Covid-19 is not coming, it is here,” said Kishori Pednekar, adding that an announcement regarding the matter had already been made in Nagpur.

Delhi reported 41 new cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of COVID cases in the national capital to 14,38,082. At least 1,42,51,101 people in the national capital have been administered with one dose.

Active cases constitute 1.19 per cent of total cases, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate stands 97.48 per cent per cent, the Health Ministry said. The daily positivity rate now stands at 2.38 per cent.

The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 71 crore. More than 73 lakh (73,80,510) vaccine doses were administered till 7 pm on Wednesday.

Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said India took 85 days to touch 10 crore vaccinations, 45 days to cross the 20 crore-mark and 29 more days to reach 30 crore.

The country took 24 days to reach 40 crore vaccinations from 30 crore doses and then 20 more days to cross 50 crore vaccinations on August 6.

In 2020, India’s Covid tally crossed the 20 lakh-mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. Last year too, the tally went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one crore-mark on December 19.

The coronavirus has killed at least 4,529,715 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to news agency AFP. The US is the worst-affected country with 652,654 deaths, followed by Brazil with 584,421, India with 441,749, Mexico 265,420 and Peru 198,595.