India reports 42,766 new Covid-19 cases, 1,206 deaths

India reported 42,766 new coronavirus cases and 1,206 deaths in the 24 hours ending 8 am on Saturday, according to data released by the Union Health Ministry. 

With this, the country’s overall Covid-19 caseload rose to over 3.07 crore (3,07,95,716), while the national death toll climbed to 4.07 lakh (4,07,145), reports The Indian Express. 

Kerala continues to be the topmost contributor, reporting 13,563 cases on Friday. Maharashtra detected 8.992 new infections.

With 45,254 patients recovering from the illness yesterday, the total number of recoveries in India has risen to over 2.99 crore (2,99,33,538). The national recovery rate stands at 97.20 per cent.

Active cases, meanwhile, have dropped to 4.55 lakh (4,55,033). The active cases comprise 1.48 per cent of the total infections, as per latest Health Ministry data.

Presently, Kerala is reporting the highest number of active cases in the country. Its active case count has surpassed that of Maharashtra, which was previously reporting record numbers. Kerala and Maharashtra are also recording the highest number of daily Covid-related deaths, with the two states recording 130 and 747, respectively, since yesterday.

Meanwhile, with daily case detections still above 40,000 and reports and pictures of blatant violations of social distancing norms coming from tourist spots, the head of India’s pandemic task force Dr V K Paul has again warned that the second wave of Covid-19 is not over yet, and that cases can explode if people continue to behave recklessly.

As many as 19,55,225 samples were tested for Covid-19 on Friday, taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of the infection in the country to well over 42.90 crore. Meanwhile, the daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.19 per cent.