Coronavirus cases: India records 15,223 new COVID-19 cases; 151 fresh deaths in last 24 hours

New Delhi, Jan 21: Union health ministry on Thursday said that India recorded 15,223 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours. With this, the nationwide tally reached 10,610,883.

According to the health ministry, the number of active cases, which have already reached a record low, dropped further to 1,92,308, while 10,265,706 patients have been cured or discharged from hospitals.

It further said that the country recorded 151 fresh fatalities due to the disease in the said period. The death toll now stands at 1,52,869.

The active cases comprise just 1.86 per cent of the total infections, according to health ministry. It said that 72 per cent of the active cases are concentrated in Kerala, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal.

The national recovery rate has risen to 96.70 per cent while the fatality rate stands at 1.44 per cent, according to health ministry.

It can be seen that India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20 lakh-mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It 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.

Meanwhile, the world's largest coronavirus vaccination programme has been going on in India, with a target of inoculating the healthcare and frontline workers. It was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 16.

As on January 20, 2021, a total of 6,74,835 beneficiaries have received the vaccination. In a span of 24 hours, 2,20,786 people were vaccinated across 3,860 sessions. A total of 11,720 sessions has been conducted so far, according to the government.