India reports 1,576 COVID-19 deaths as new cases dip below 60,000 for first time in 81 days

New Delhi, June 20, 2021

India today logged 1,576 deaths due to COVID-19 and 58,419 new cases of infection in the last 24 hours as the spread of the coronavirus pandemic stayed on a downward trajectory across the country.

This is the first time since May 31 that the number of fresh cases of infection has fallen below 60,000. Thecountry had reported 53,480 new cases on that date.

India had reported 1,647 deaths and 60,753 new cases yesterday.

At 1,576, the number of deaths in a single day today is the lowest since April 18, when 1,501 deaths were reported.

The number of deaths in a single day has remained below 3,000 for the sixth consecutive day today after staying above that level for the previous five days. The number had fallen below 3,000 on June 1 for the first time after April 28. It has remained below 2,000 for three days now.

The country had registered more than 4,000 deaths in a single day on 13 days in May.

The number of new cases of infection in the country in the last 24 hours has remained below 100,000 for the 13th consecutive day today.

The highest number of new cases in a 24-hour period -- 414,188 -- was reported on May 7.

With the latest data released by the Ministry of Health of Family Welfare (MoHFW) this morning, the death toll so far has climbed to 386,713. The total number of cases of infection till now, since the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in India in late January 2020, has gone up to 29,881,965.

Of the 1,576 deaths reported in India in the last 24 hours, Maharashtra, the worst-hit state, accounted for 682, followed by 180 deaths in Tamil Nadu, 161 in Karnataka, 115 in Kerala, 55 in West Bengal, 51 in Uttar Pradesh, 45 in Andhra Pradesh, 42 in Odisha, 40 in Assam, 33 in Haryana, 31 in Punjab and 30 in Madhya Pradesh.

The other states reported less than 30 deaths each in the last 24 hours. There were seven COVID-19 deaths in national capital Delhi during this period.

The number of those who have recovered from COVID-19 in the country rose to 28,766,009 today, up 87,619 from yesterday. The recovery rate has improved to 96.26% from 96.16% yesterday.

This is the 38th consecutive day that the number of recoveries has exceeded the number of new cases.

The number of active cases dipped by 30,776 to 729,243 -- the lowest since April 4 when it was 691,597. Active cases are currently 2.44% of the country's total positive cases so far.

The number of active cases had touched 3,745,237 on May 10, the highest since the pandemic began in India. The active caseload had been continuously rising after February 12 this year, when it had touched its lowest mark of 135,926 in recent months. However, since May 11, there has been a steady downtrend.

A total of 18,11,446 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours in the country. Cumulatively, India has conducted over 39.10 crore (39,10,19,083) tests so far.

The weekly positivity rate is currently at 3.43% and the daily positivity rate stood at 3.22% today. It has remained below 5% for 13 consecutive days now.

A total of 27,66,93,572 vaccine doses have been administered so far in the country. This number included 38,10,554 vaccine doses given in the last 24 hours.

NNN