Coronavirus cases: India records 22,065 new COVID-19 cases; nationwide tally reaches 99,06,165

New Delhi, Dec 15: Union health ministry on Tuesday said that India recorded 22,065 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours. With this, the nationwide tally has reached 99,06,165. This is the lowest daily count of COVID-19 cases since July 6.

According to the health ministry, the number of active cases went down further to 3,39,820, while 94,22,636 patients have been cured or discharged from hospitals.

The country also recorded 354 fresh fatalities, which took the nationwide tally to 1,43,709.

The share of India's active COVID-19 cases in the total number of infections further shrunk to 3.57 per cent, lowest after 149 days, according to government statement on Monday.

On Monday, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) organised a virtual session on COVID-19 where Ministry of External Affairs Secretary (West) Vikas Swarup said that India emerged as a net provider of health security and successfully shouldered its responsibility as the pharmacy of the world.

"Within two months of the pandemic, we expanded our diagnostic facility from one major facility for pan-India testing to more than 2,000 today. From having almost no domestic manufacturing of PPE kits, we have become the second-largest manufacturer. More than 17,000 dedicated COVID facilities were set up with 1.6 million isolation beds. Digital tools such as the Aarogya Setu App were developed and are being effectively used for extensive contact tracing," said Swarup.