COVID-19: India reports 44,643 new infections with Kerala alone reporting more than 22,000 cases

India has reported 44,643 new COVID-19 cases and 464 deaths in the last 24 hours pushing the cumulative tally to 3,18,56,757. This is the third consecutive day when the country saw more than 40,000 new cases being registered. The current recovery rate in India stands at 97.36%, as per the Health Ministry.

The latest update from the Union ministry of health and family welfare says India's active caseload at present stands at 4,14,159. The daily positivity rate now stands at 2.72%. This has remained below three percent since the last 11 days.

The total death toll in the country from COVID-19 now stands at 4,26,754. The fatality rate has now touched 1.34%. Also, 41,096 patients recovered from the virus during the same period, taking the total tally of discharges to 31,015,844, the updated bulletin read. 

Kerala continues to be the biggest contributor with 50% or more of the total cases in India, even as most other states show a steady decline in infections. The state reported more than 22,000 fresh cases for the third day this week while Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh continued to show signs of a spike in infections. 

Tamil Nadu reported 1,997 new infections on Thursday, the highest daily tally since July 18. In Himachal Pradesh, 256 new cases were detected, the most in 43 days. West Bengal was witnessing a slight upsurge in cases with 812 recorded on Thursday.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said 47,65,33,650 samples have been tested for the virus since the pandemic hit the country last year. Of these, 16,40,287 tests were conducted on Thursday.

Meanwhile, 57,97,808 vaccine doses were administered against the virus during the day. This pushed the total count of jabs to 49,53,27,595 as part of the nationwide vaccination drive launched earlier this year.