COVID-19: India reports 16,752 new infections, 113 deaths in last 24 hours

Fresh Covid-19 cases are showing a worrying upward trend over the past one week, with the country reporting a single-day rise of 16,752 cases in the last 24 hours taking the overall tally to 1,10,96,731 on Sunday (February 28), Union Health Ministry said. The rise is the highest during this month.

The positivity rate has been rising gradually, which is now at 1.48 per cent. As per the Ministry's data, there are 1,64,511 active cases at present after 11,718 patients were discharged in a day. Meanwhile, 113 more deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours, taking the overall toll to 1,57,051, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

The experts have suggested a number of possibilities which could be ranging from a lax attitude of people towards following Covid protocols to the possibility of "mutations and new strains" causing the surge, as has been studied by the laboratories involved in Covid detection across the country.

Last week, officials said that the average daily new infections for the last 15 days were oscillating between 9,000 to 12,000 while the deaths were between 78 to 120.

On February 9, India had reported 9,110 new cases, the lowest this year so far. Last year, the lowest 9,633 cases were recorded on June 3.

Till now, 1,07,75,169 persons have been discharged so far. The recovery rate has reduced to 97.10 per cent, a change of 0.4 per cent in the last two days. Meanwhile, the fatality rate remains 1.42 per cent.

On Friday, around 90 per cent of the new cases came from six states -- Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Karnataka and Gujarat, while six states accounted for 84.62 per cent of the new deaths included Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka.

The Ministry also informed that 7,95,723 samples were tested on Saturday. The cumulative tests by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) so far stand at 21,62,31,106.

So far, 1,43,01,266 doses of corona vaccine have been administered in the country since the drive began on January 16 after approval for Covishield and Covaxin.

As per the Union Health Ministry, India has become the fastest in terms of the vaccine doses administered, even though many countries had launched their vaccination campaigns much earlier.

The third phase of vaccination against the Covid-19 pandemic will begin on March 1 and will cover 27 crore people above 60 and those above 45 years of age with comorbidities at 10,000 government and over 20,000 private vaccination centres. While people will be vaccinated free of cost at government hospitals, those taking the shots at private hospitals will have to pay.