In the previous 24 hours, India has seen 46,617 new cases of COVID-19, with 853 individuals dying from the virus, according to statistics released by the health ministry on Friday. This brings India’s infection tally to 30,458,251, with the death toll increasing to 400,312.

There are now 509,637 active cases throughout the country — with 59,384 patients discharged in the previous 24 hours — bringing the total number of recoveries to 29,548,302. This has brought the recovery rate to 97.01%.

According to the Union Health Ministry, the number of active cases constitutes 1.67% of the total cases, while the weekly positivity rate is currently at 2.57%. The daily positivity rate is at 2.48%, which has now been less than 5% for 25 consecutive days. 

Testing capacity has been ramped up as 414,251,520 samples were tested for COVID-19 till July 2, according to data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and 1,880,026 of these samples were tested on Thursday.

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India had given at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccination to a total of 340,076,232 individuals as of Thursday. On January 16, the country’s widespread immunisation campaign had begun.

After reporting an unprecedented rise in COVID cases in the summer, India has seen a gradual drop in cases in recent months.

During the second wave, the nation recorded over 400,000 daily infections and over 4,500 deaths in a single day.

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Cipla, a Mumbai-based pharmaceutical firm, was granted permission to import and sell the Moderna vaccine in India on Tuesday. It would be India’s fourth vaccination to receive approval from the Drugs Controller General (DCGI).