India's Covid tally rises to 2.43 cr with 3.26 lakh infections in past 24 hrs

New Delhi:India's infection caseload spiked to 2.43 crore cases after 3.26 lakh cases were recorded in over 24 hours, the Union Ministry of Health reported on Saturday.Up to 3,980 people have lost their lives during the same time frame, taking the overall death toll to 2,66,207.

The country presently has 36,73,802 active cases at 15.07 per cent with as many as 3,53,299 people being discharged in a single day. With this, the total number of recoveries have spiked to 2,04,32,898 at 83.83 per cent.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the total number of tests done during the previous day 16,93,093.Meanwhile, more than 18 crore vaccine doses have been administered in the country till Friday, according to the Health Ministry.

Maharashtra reported 39,923 new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases and 695 deaths, followed by Kerala (34,694), Karnataka (41,779), Tamil Nadu (31,892), Andhra Pradesh (22,018), West Bengal (20,839), Uttar Pradesh (15,747) and Delhi (8,506) in the past 24 hours.

The six most affected states by total cases are Maharashtra (5,309,215), Karnataka (2,130,267), Kerala (2,085,583), Uttar Pradesh (1,596,727), Tamil Nadu (1,531,377), Andhra Pradesh (1,388,803), and Delhi (1,380,981).

India has started deploying Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, making it the first foreign-made shot to be used in the country. The single-dose variant Sputnik Light will cost ? 995.40 including tax for a shot, according to Dr Reddy's Laboratories, which is manufacturing the vaccines in India.

Globally, as of 14 May 2021, there have been 160,813,869 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 3,339,002 deaths, reported to WHO.

The US remains the worst-hit country with 33,663,187, followed by India, Brazil, France and Turkey. However, in the past seven days, India has added the highest number of fresh cases at 2,560,835, followed by Brazil (427,804) and the US (256,718).(UNI)