New infections under 20,000 after 201 days, fatalities fall below 200
NEW DELHI (AA) – India on Tuesday reported its lowest rise in COVID-19 infections in more than six months.
Single-day fatalities were also lower than 200 for the first time since late March, latest Health Ministry data showed.
A total of 18,795 new infections – the smallest rise since the middle of March – pushed the overall count past 33.6 million, while 179 fatalities raised the death toll to 447,373.
“India reports daily new cases less than 20,000 after 201 days. Active cases account for less than 1% of total cases, currently at 0.87%, lowest since March 2020,” read a Health Ministry statement.
From a staggering peak of more than 400,000 cases and 4,500 deaths per day, India’s pandemic situation has gradually improved over the past few months, despite the modest pace of vaccinations in the country of some 1.4 billion people.
Numbers have steadily dropped in most parts of India, except the southern state of Kerala, which has gone from being a COVID-19 success story to one of the country’s worst-hit regions.
Latest figures show that more than 870.7 million vaccine doses have been administered in India, but the country’s health minister recently said just about 23% of the adult population has been fully vaccinated, while around 66% has been given at least one dose.