India witnesses decline in COVID cases; 8,813 new infections

New Delhi, Aug 16: India reported a decline in COVID-19 cases with 8,813 new infections reported in the last 24 hours as compared to 14,917 cases a day before, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare data said on Tuesday.

The country recorded 15,040 recoveries in the last 24 hours which takes the total recoveries from the infection to 4,36,38,844. The current recovery rate is 98.56 per cent.

According to the Health Ministry, the country's daily positivity rate stands at 4.15 per cent, while its weekly positivity rate is 4.79 per cent.

The Ministry further informed that the country's active caseload stands at 1,11,252 with the active cases at 0.25 per cent. The Health Ministry also said that 88.06 crore Covid tests have been conducted in the country so far, of which 2,12,129 were conducted in the last 24 hours.

India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 208.31 crore (2,08,31,24,694) as per provisional reports till 7 am today. This has been achieved through 2,76,96,728 sessions.

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 last year with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. Vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2 last year.

The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced on March 1 last year for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified comorbid conditions. India launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1 last year.

The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 years of age to be inoculated against the viral disease from May 1 last year. The next phase of vaccination commenced from January 3 for adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years.

India began administering precaution doses of vaccines to healthcare and frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities from January 10.

The country began inoculating children aged 12-14 from March 16 and also removed the comorbidity clause, making all people aged above 60 eligible for the precaution dose of Covid vaccine.