At 44,111, India sees decline in new cases; active cases slip below 5 lakh

NEW DELHI, Jul 3
A further decline was seen in new Covid-19 cases across the country with 44,111 people testing positive in the last 24 hours, said the Union Health Ministry on Saturday.
The number stood at 46,617 the day before. With the addition of new infections, the cumulative tally reached 3,05,02,362.
Further, the daily fatalities have dipped too as 738 more people succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours. The death toll due to coronavirus in India now stands at 4,01,050.
The recoveries have outnumbered fresh infections for the 51st day with 57,477 people getting discharged. This has taken the total number of discharges to 2,96,05,779 and the recovery rate has improved to 97.06%.
The active cases saw a net decline of 14,104 to slip below 5 lakh and settle at 4,95,533. The active tally now constitutes 1.62% of total infections.
Tests conducted so far
India has tested 41,64,16,463 samples for Covid-19 until now, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Out of these, 18,76,036 samples were tested on Saturday. As many as 18,80,026 tests were conducted in the previous 24 hours period.
Vaccination in India
The country has so far administered 34,00,76,232 anti-Covid jabs. Among these, 42,64,123 doses were given in the last 24 hours.
Eight States--Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra-- have administered at least one dose of the vaccine to more than 50 lakh people in the age group 18-44 years.
The Central Government has urged people to not lower down their guards as the "second wave is not over yet".
Lav Agarwal, the Joint Secretary at the Health Ministry, said: "We have noted a decline of 13% in Covid-19 cases as compared to last week. On average, we are reporting 46,000 cases (daily) in the country."
"There has been a decline of 86% in active cases since the peak. Under the continued focus of clinical management, the recovery rate, which was at 81.1% on 3 May, is now at around 97%," he added.
He further requested States to identify districts where the weekly positivity rate is above 10% or bed occupancy is over 60% and impose the highest level of restrictions for at least 14 days, to break the chain of transmission.
Livemint