India records 15K new Covid cases, 175 deaths

New Delhi, Jan 16 (SocialNews.XYZ) With 15,158 new coronavirus infections reported in the last 24 hours, India on Saturday continued with its low streak of single-day cases, posting an overall tally of 1,05,42,841, according to the Union Health Ministry.

On Tuesday, India had recorded 12,584 new cases, the lowest single-day figure in over seven months. The country has been recording less than 20,000 daily new cases from the past eight days.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said 175 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours taking the death toll to 1,52,093. Since the last 22 days, less than 300 new deaths per day have been recorded in the country.

As per the Ministry data, 1,01,79,715 people have recovered so far and currently there are 2,11,033 active cases. The recovery rate stands at 96.56 per cent, while the fatality rate is 1.44 per cent.

The total number of samples tested up to January 14 were 18,57,65,491, including 8,03,090 tested on Friday, the Indian Council of Medical Research said.

About 76 per cent of the daily new cases are reported from seven states -- Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat.

Meanwhile, the most-awaited mass vaccination drive is slated to begin from Saturday, with approval of two vaccines.

The Central government has planned to vaccinate nearly 3 crore people in the first phase of the drive.

The Union Health Ministry has said that 1.1 crore 'Covishield' and 55 lakh 'Covaxin' doses have been procured at the cost of Rs 200 and Rs 206 per dose, respectively.

Source: IANS