India adds 71,365 fresh cases of COVID-19 infection, 1,217 deaths in last 24 hours

New Delhi, February 9, 2022

India today added 71,365 fresh cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,217 deaths in the last 24 hours, slightly higher than yesterday's numbers, even as the overall trend pointed to a decleration in the spread of the pandemic.

The 1,217 deaths added today incuded as many as 591 previously unreported fatalities in Kerala, where the data of the past many months is being reconciled and updated in an exercise that has been going on for several weeks now as per the broadened definition of COVID-19 deaths under new guidelines.

The country had yesterday recorded 67,597 new cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,188 deaths, including 733 previously undeclared fatalities in Kerala.

If the 591 previously unreported deaths in Kerala are not counted, the number of people who died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours in India is 626, much higher than the 455 posted yesterday.

With the latest data released by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) this morning, the death toll in the country from COVID-19 so far has climbed to 505,279 today.

The total number of cases of infection till now, since the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in India in late January 2020, rose to 42,410,976 today.

Not counting the 591 previously unreported fatalities in Kerala, the 626 deaths reported in India in the last 24 hours included 233 deaths in Kerala, 57 in Maharashtra, 51 in Karnataka, 37 in Tamil Nadu, 32 in West Bengal, 28 in Gujarat, 26 in Punjab, 21 in Odisha, 17 in Haryana, 16 in Rajasthan, 13 in Uttar Pradesh, 12 in Delhi, and 10 in Chhattisgarh.

Other States reported less than ten deaths each, with six States and Union Territories posting zero deaths during this period.

The number of those who have recovered from COVID-19 in the country crossed the 41-million mark at 41,012,869 today, up 172,211 from yesterday. The recovery rate improved further to 96.70% from 96.46% yesterday.

The number of active cases of COVID-19 in the country fell for the 15th consecutive day today, going down by 102,063 to 892,828 today.

Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 170.87 crore today, including 53.61 lakh doses given in the last 24 hours.

The Daily Positivity Rate dipped further to 4.54% and the Weekly Positivity Rate to 7.57% today.

A total of 74.46 crore COVID-19 tests have been conducted so far in the country, including 15.71 lakh tests done in the last 24 hours.

NNN