India reports 17,092 new Covid-19 cases, 29 deaths in last 24 hours

India logged 17,092 new coronavirus infections, raising the tally to 4,34,86,326, while the active cases have increased to 1,09,568, the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday.

The death toll has climbed to 5,25,168 with 29 new fatalities, data updated by the ministry at 8 am stated.

The active cases comprise 0.25 per cent of the total infections.

The national COVID-19 recovery rate was 98.54 per cent, the health ministry said.

An increase of 2,379 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 case count in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 4.14 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 3.56 per cent, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,28,51,590. The case fatality rate was 1.21 per cent.

According to the ministry, 197.84 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide inoculation drive.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19, 2020. The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore cases on May 4, 2021, three crore cases on June 23 and four crore cases on January 25 this year.

The 29 new fatalities included 15 from Kerala, four from Maharashtra, three from Delhi, two from Punjab and one each from Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka and Rajasthan, the data stated.