India’s daily Covid tally declines with 15,940 cases, 20 new deaths added

India on Saturday witnessed a decline in its daily Covid tally after 15,940 cases were reported in the last 24 hours, pushing the caseload to 4,33,78,234, according to the Union health ministry's dashboard.

Twenty more patients died due to the virus, and the nationwide toll is nearing 5.25 lakh. On the other hand, 12,425 patients recuperated in the last 24 hours pushing the total to 4,27,61,481 recoveries since the onset of the pandemic.

The active cases have climbed to 91,779 and constitute 0.20% of the caseload.

On Friday, India recorded 17,336 new cases, 13 deaths and 13,029 recoveries. This was the first time in over 120 days that the daily tally crossed the 17,000-mark.

And on Thursday, the country recorded 13,313 cases, 38 deaths and 10,972 recoveries.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), over 3.63 lakh samples were tested for Covid in the last 24 hours and the cumulative count is over 86 crore.

On the vaccination front, authorities administered more than 15.73 lakh doses to eligible beneficiaries in the last 24 hours. The overall vaccination coverage has exceeded 196.94 crore.

The Union health ministry said on Saturday that over 193.53 crore doses have been provided to states and Union Territories (UTs) through the free-of-cost channel and direct state procurement category.

"More than 12.14 crore balance and unutilised Covid vaccine doses are still available with the States/UTs to be administered," the ministry added.