India added 26,624 coronavirus infections in 24 hours, taking its tally to 1,00,31,223, the Health Ministry data this morning showed. 

The number of fresh infections is 5.8 per cent higher than Saturday when the country registered 25,152 cases to take the total infections to over one crore mark. 

In the 24-hour period, India, reported 341 deaths linked to the virus, taking the total number of fatalities to 1,45,447. 

Active cases in country stand at over three lakh while 95 lakh people have recovered from the disease, the government said.

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Thirty-three states and union territories have less than 20,000 active cases, according to the government. "Kerala and Maharashtra together account for 40 per cent of total COVID-19 active cases," the Health Ministry tweeted. Other states with a high number of active coronavirus cases in West Bengal (19,065), Uttar Pradesh (17,955), and Chhattisgarh (17,488).

India is in the number one position in terms of the number of recovered coronavirus cases, followed by Brazil, according to the Johns Hopkins University, which has been compiling global COVID-19 data. At 226 cases per million population, India's active cases is also amongst the lowest in the world. "India's active caseload has been declining steadily, we are amongst the best performers in terms of recovery rate, fatality rate and various other parameters related to COVID-19," Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said in a tweet.

Delhi recorded 1,139 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, the lowest in nearly four months, as the positivity rate slipped further to 1.3 per cent, authorities said. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has said the "third wave" of the COVID-19 pandemic in the national capital is under control now. "There was a time in November when the daily cases went up to nearly 8,600. But, even then it wasn't a panicky situation in Delhi, and 7,000 beds were available. We fought it all together," he told an online briefing.

Across India, over 16 crore coronavirus tests have been conducted so far, the government data shows. The death rate stood at 1.50 per cent this morning, while the positivity rate stood at 2.14 per cent.

This has resulted in "very high" recovery rate of more than 95 per cent, one of the highest globally. At least 34 States and union territories have reported more than 90 per cent recovery rate. The health ministry said that the central government's calibrated strategies through a "whole of government" approach have sharply focussed on high Recovery Rate and low Fatality Rate on a sustained basis.

India became the second country after the US to record one crore cases of the infectious virus on Saturday, much later than predicted only a month ago as the pace of infections slow, despite many in the country giving up on masks and social distancing. After hitting a peak of nearly 98,000 daily cases in mid-September, daily infections have averaged around 30,000 this month in India, helping the country widen its gap with the United States.

India reported its first COVID-19 case on January 30 in Kerala, while the first death was reported on March 10 in Karnataka. The country's COVID-19 case tally had surpassed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, and 40 lakh on September 5. It went past 50 lakh on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, and surpassed 90 lakh on November 20.

Six vaccines, including those developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech and Pune-based Serum Institute of India - are undergoing clinical trials in India.

Several nations around the world have begun vaccinating their citizens against the virus. Britain this month became the first Western country to start immunizing with the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNtech, followed by the United States which has now also approved a vaccine from Moderna.

Global coronavirus infections have surpassed the 75 million mark, according to news agency Reuters. In Europe, a million new cases were recorded over just five days, with Russia and France reporting more than 2 million cases since the coronavirus outbreak began.

BDST: 1347 HRS, DEC 20, 2020
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