India reports 18,815 new Covid-19 cases, 38 deaths in last 24 hours

New Delhi, July 08: India saw a single day rise of 18,815 new coronavirus infections, taking the tally of COVID-19 cases to 4,35,85,554, while the active cases increased to 1,22,335, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Friday.

The death toll has climbed to 5,25,343 with 38 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The active cases comprise 0.28 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.51 per cent, the health ministry said.

An increase of 2,878 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 4.96 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was 4.09 per cent, according to the health ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,29,37,876 while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.21 per cent.

According to the ministry, 198.51 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 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.

India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4, three crore on June 23 last year and four crore on January 25 this year.

The 38 new fatalities include 16 from Kerala, eight from Maharashtra, two each from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal and one each from Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Meghalaya, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.

A total of 5,25,343 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 1,47,964 from Maharashtra, 70,089 from Kerala, 40,122 from Karnataka, 38,028 from Tamil Nadu, 26,277 from Delhi, 23,545 from Uttar Pradesh and 21,233 from West Bengal.

The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.