India recorded 41,831 new COVID-19 cases and 541 deaths in the last 24 hours, data from the Union Health Ministry confirmed on Sunday. The country’s total infection tally now stands at 3,16,55,824, with the death toll pushed to 4,24,351.
Active cases in India have increased by 2,032, taking the total to 4,10,952. A total of 39,258 patients recovered from the infection in the last 24 hours, taking the total recoveries to 3,08,20,521.
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The recovery rate currently stands at 97.36%.
The government administered 60,15,842 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in the last 24 hours, taking India’s total vaccination tally to 47,02,98,596.
Meanwhile, the Indian Medical Research Council (ICMR) confirmed that 17,89,472 samples were tested for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. A total of 46,82,16,510 samples have been tested as of July 31.
India has been witnessing a gradual drop in cases after a ferocious second wave crippled the country’s health care infrastructure over the summer. At the peak of the second wave, the country reported over 4,00,000 cases and over 4,500 deaths everyday.
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India’s COVID tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7; 50 lakh on September 16 and surpassed one crore on December 19. The country crossed the grim milestone of 2 crore cases on May 4 and 3 crore on June 23.
The Health Ministry has, however, stressed that over 70% of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.
India’s virus caseload is the second-highest in the world after the United States, which has recorded over 3.5 crore confirmed cases. India’s death toll is the third highest in the world after the US (over 6,13,000) and Brazil (over 5,55,000).
However, many experts believe the number of COVID cases and deaths in India far exceeds the officially reported numbers, with one study, published by the Centre for Global Development, estimating between 3.4 to 4.7 million died in India due to coronavirus.
