India recorded 2,86,384 new COVID-19 cases and 573 deaths in the last 24 hours, data from the Union Health Ministry confirmed on Thursday. India’s total infection tally has now reached 4,03,71,500, with the death toll pushed to 4,91,700.

Active cases have declined by 20,546 to 22,02,472 and comprise 5.46% of the total caseload. 

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3,06,357 patients recovered from the infection in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 3,76,77,328. The national recovery rate stands at 93.33%. 

Data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) confirmed a total of 72,21,66,248 samples have been tested for COVID-19 across the country. 14,62,261 of them were tested in the last 24 hours. 

The daily positivity rate has increased from 16.16% to 19.59%. The weekly positivity rate has also risen to 17.75%. 

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India’s cumulative vaccination count has reached 1,63,84,39,207 after 22,35,267 doses were administered in the last 24 hours. India’s mass vaccination campaign was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 16 last year.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20,00,000 mark on August 7, 2020, 30,00,000 on August 23, 40,00,000 on September 5 and 50,00,000 on September 16. It went past 60,00,000 on September 28, 70,00,000 on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90,00,000 on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

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India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.