India logs 20,528 fresh COVID infections in last 24 hours

New Delhi [India], July 17 (ANI): India logged 20,528 new COVID cases in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.
The country had reported 20,044 cases on Saturday. This is the fourth consecutive day when over 20,000 cases were logged cumulatively nationwide.
With this, the active cases rose to 1,43,449 which was 1,40,760 yesterday.
As many as 17,790 COVID patients recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours taking the total number of recoveries to 4,30,81,441. The recovery rate currently stands at 98.47 per cent.
According to the Ministry, 49 patients succumbed to the virus during this period. The death toll in the country is now 5,25,709.
The country tested 3,92,569 samples. The daily case positivity rate which was 4.80 per cent yesterday rose to 5.23 per cent today while the weekly positivity rate rose from 4.40 per cent yesterday to 4.55 per cent today.
The COVID vaccination drive inched closer to the 2 billion feat as the cumulative vaccine doses administered in the country so far reached 1,99,98,89,097 with the inoculation of 25,59,840 beneficiaries in the last 24 hours.
Out of the total 199.98 crore vaccine doses, 92.60 crore have been administered as the second dose while 5.64 crore doses were jabbed as precaution doses.
Meanwhile, with an aim to increase the uptake of the precautionary dose of COVID vaccine among the eligible adult population, 75 days – ‘COVID Vaccination Amrit Mahotsava’ commenced on Friday.
This special vaccination drive is a part of the celebration for Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav and aims to provide free precaution dose for all adults (18 years and above) eligible population at Government COVID Vaccination Centres (CVCs).
In a virtual meeting with State/UT Health Secretaries and NHM MDs chaired by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, States and UTs have been urged to give an intensive and ambitious push toward full COVID-19 vaccination coverage by vaccinating all eligible beneficiaries and covering them with precaution dose. (ANI)