India reports 44,658 new Covid-19 cases as surge in Kerala continues

India on Friday logged 44,658 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours as Kerala continued to report a surge in Covid-19 for the second consecutive day with over 30,000 fresh infections reported yesterday.

The active cases jumped to 3,44,899, comprising 1.06 per cent of the total infections, according to the Union Health Ministry data. The total tally of Covid-19 cases increased to 3,26,03,188, and the death toll climbed to 4,36,861 with 496 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

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As many as 18,24,931 tests were conducted on Tuesday taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of Covid-19 in the country to 51,49,54,309.

The national Covid-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.60 per cent, the ministry said.

Cumulatively, 61.22 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered under the nationwide vaccination drive till Wednesday morning.

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.