India reports 12,608 new COVID cases, 72 deaths in last 24 hours

New Delhi, Aug 18: India saw a single day rise of 12,608 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 4,42,98,864, while the active cases declined to 1,01,343, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

The national death toll climbed to 5,27,206 with 72 fatalities, including 29 fatalities by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated.

The active cases comprised 0.23 per cent of the total infections, as the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.58 per cent, the health ministry said.

A decline of 3,715 cases was recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 3.48 per cent, and weekly at 4.20 per cent, according to the health ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has surged to 4,36,70,315. The overall fatality rate to date stands at 1.19 per cent.

According to the ministry, 208.95 crore doses of COVID vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020. It crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4, 2021, and four crore on January 25 this year.

The 43 new fatalities composed of eight from Delhi, six from Maharashtra, five from Haryana, four each from Punjab and West Bengal, three from Karnataka, two each from Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh and one each from Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand.