India records 16,103 new Covid cases, 31 deaths in 24 hours

India on Sunday saw a marginal drop (about 1,000 cases less fewer than a day before) in its daily Covid-19 tally with 16,103 people testing positive in the last 24 hours - taking the national caseload to 43,502,429. On Saturday, the country had reported a total of 17,092 cases in a day. According to the union health ministry, the country recorded a total of 31 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the total fatalities to 5,25,199.

A total of 13,929 people have recovered in the last 24 hours - with the recovery standing at 98.54%, as per the health ministry.

India's active caseload currently stands at 1,11,711 - accounting for 0.25% of the total cases. As per the health ministry, a total of 3,76,720 tests have been conducted for coronavirus in a day.

India's vaccine coverage has reached 197.95 crore doses. Over 3.69 crore first doses and over 2.39 crore second doses have been administered for the age group of 12 to 14. Over 6.05 crore first doses and more than 4.90 crore second doses have been given to the 15 to 18 age group. Meanwhile, over 4.08 crore precaution doses (booster shots) have been given to people above 60 years of age, healthcare workers, and frontline workers.

Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Delhi have been accounting for the maximum number of cases in the country. On Saturday, two hospitals in Delhi - among the largest genome sequencing labs for the Sars-CoV-2 in the national capital - found at least 15 samples that were of the BA.5 sub-lineage of the Omicron variant.