India sees less than 100,000 new Covid-19 cases for first time in over 2 months

With this latest single-day rise of 86,498 Covid-19 cases, India's infection tally has risen to 28,996,473 including a death toll of 351,309 with 2123 fresh fatalities.

India’s daily Covid-19 tally dropped to less than 100,000 cases for the first time since April 6 as 86,498 infections were recorded in the last 24 hours, the Union ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) data showed on Tuesday. The country’s tally rose to 28.99 million while Covid-related deaths rose by 2123 to 351,309, according to the health ministry’s dashboard at 8am.

A health worker collects swab samples for Covid test, at a Government Hospital, in Karol Bagh, in New Delhi, India (Photo by Sanchit Khanna/ Hindustan Times)

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According to a statement by the Union government, the 86,498 new Covid-19 cases represent the lowest single-day rise in 66 days.

On April 6, the country added 96,982 fresh infections and 446 fatalities from the preceding 24-hour period. A day ago, on April 5, the daily Covid-19 tally topped the 100,000-mark for the first time, as the infection tally rose by 103,558 cases, along with 478 deaths.

Tuesday’s data showed an addition of 182,282 recoveries from the coronavirus disease, taking the nationwide recoveries to 27,341,462 and a further improvement in the recovery rate to 94.30%. Active cases fell by 97,907 to 1,303,702, and comprise 4.50% of the overall caseload, according to the latest bulletin.

Data released by the government-run Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Tuesday showed 1,873,485 samples were tested on June 7, as against 1,587,589 a day before. With this, 368,207,596 samples have been tested till now, ICMR said.

The number of vaccine doses administered against Covid-19 saw a single-day rise of 3,364,476 and are currently at 236,198,726. In an address to the nation on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the central government will now provide vaccination to the beneficiaries on behalf of the state governments as well.