The daily Covid tally in India remained below 20,000-mark for the second consecutive day with 18,795 new cases registered in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry's data released on Tuesday morning stated.
The country registered 19,859 cases on Monday, which was the first time after over 200 days when Covid cases were reported below the 20,000-mark.
India has been reporting daily cases between 30,000 to 35,000 daily for the last few weeks, however, with improvement in the Covid situation in Kerala which has been reporting around 15,000 cases daily, the number of Covid cases has come down.
Kerala records 11,699 new Covid cases
Kerala on Monday logged 11,699 people turning Covid positive after only 80,372 samples - as in the norm for weekends - were tested in the past 24 hours. The test positivity rate for the day stood at 14.55 per cent, said a statement issued by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
On Monday, 17,763 people turned negative and the total number of active cases in the state was 1,57,158, while 12.3 per cent of the patients are in hospitals.
After several days, the number of daily Covid deaths fell to two digits, with 58 new fatalities, taking the death toll to 24,661.
On the vaccination front, Kerala is fast reaching a milestone when everyone aged 18 years and above is inoculated with one dose by the end of this month.
As on date, 91.8 per cent (2,45,37,535) of all people aged above 18 years have got their first dose while 39.7 per cent (1,06,22,133) have got both the doses.
India's active caseload drops
The country's active caseload further dropped to 2,92,206, according to the Union Health Ministry's data. With 179 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, India's total Covid fatalities rose to 4,47,373.
So far, 3,36,97,581 people have been infected in the country, of which 32,9,58,002 have recovered, according to the ministry's report. A steady slowdown in the rest of the country has brought the number of active Covid-19 cases below the 3-lakh mark for the first time in six months.
Only five states -- Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Mizoram -- are currently reporting more than 1,000 cases every day. In three states -- Bihar, Rajasthan and Jharkhand, and union territories -- Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, and also Chandigarh -- the active case count has fallen below 100.
