On Saturday India reported 1,20,529 new COVID-19 cases and 3,380 deaths. Taking the infection tally to 2,86,94,879 and the death toll from COVID-19 climbed to 3,44,082The daily new cases are the lowest in 58 days, the Health Ministry said.
India's active caseload dropped to 15.55 lakh as active cases decreased by 80,745 in the last 24 hours. The active cases in the country have been less than 2 lakhs for nine straight days.
With the addition of 14,152 coronavirus cases, the infection count in Maharashtra, the worst-hit state, has risen to over 58.05 lakh. It has announced a five-step unlock plan from Monday in a late-night order yesterday, a day after the state government's U-turn on ease of restrictions announced by a minister earlier.
After Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh have the highest number of infections.
Karnataka recorded 16,068 new cases and the state's shutdown has been extended for another week, until the morning of June 14. The state still has over 2.80 lakh active Covid cases.
Kerala, which saw a worrying rise in daily COVID-19 cases in the second wave of the pandemic, logged 16,229 fresh infections in the last 24 hours. The death count rose to 9,501 with 135 more deaths.
In neighboring Tamil Nadu, daily active cases stood at 22,651. However, among the southern states, it saw the most number of daily deaths at 463.
In Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state, the daily new cases stood at 1,113, while 136 deaths were reported.
22.41 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far in India under the mega inoculation plan. However, states continue to face a shortage of the two vaccines currently being used.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that the wastage figures of Covid vaccines continue to be on the higher side and asked authorities to take steps to tackle this issue.
