India reports 19,968 new Covid cases in last 24 hours, deaths up at 673; active cases decline

New Delhi, Feb 20: Daily new COVID-19 cases in India fell below 20,000 after 51 days, taking the total virus tally to 4,28,22,473, while the active cases dipped to 2,24,187, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.

A total of 19,968 cases have been reported in a day while the death toll climbed to 5,11,903 with 673 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

The daily COVID-19 cases have remained below one lakh for 14 consecutive days.

India reported 16,764 corornavirus infections on December 30 last year.

The active cases comprise 0.52 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further improved to 98.28 per cent, the ministry said.

A reduction of 29,552 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded as 1.68 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was recorded as 2.27 per cent, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,20,86,383, while the case fatality rate was recorded as 1.20 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 175.37 crore.

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, crossed 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 and three crore on June 23 last year.

The 673 new fatalities include 524 from Kerala and 29 from Maharashtra.

Of the 524 deaths in Kerala, 16 were reported in the last 24 hours, 96 occurred in the last few days but were not recorded due to late receipt of documents and 412 were designated as COVID-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court.

A total of 5,11,903 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,43,576 from Maharashtra, 64,053 from Kerala, 39,777 from Karnataka, 37,977 from Tamil Nadu, 26,097 from Delhi, 23,426 from Uttar Pradesh and 21,119 from West Bengal.

The 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.