NEW DELHI: For the third consecutive day, India witnessed the highest single-day spike of new Covid-19 cases after reporting over 1.31 lakh cases on Friday.
According to the Union Health Ministry, the country recorded 1,31,968 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. With this fresh surge, the total number of infections has reached 1,30,60,542.
With 780 new Covid-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the toll in the country has mounted to 1,67,642.
Currently, there are 9,79,608 active cases in the country.
As many as 61,899 people were discharged or recovered on Thursday taking the total number of recoveries to 1,19,13,292.
The previous high was recorded on Thursday when the country reported 1,26,789 fresh Covid positive cases in a single day. This is the fourth day when India reported more than 1 lakh cases in a single day.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 13,64,205 samples were tested for COVID-19 infection on Thursday. With this, the total samples tested in the country reached 25,40,41,584.
As many as 9,43,34,262 people have been vaccinated against Covid-19 in the country so far.
From April 2, the government started vaccinating all people above 45 years. India started its vaccination drive on January 16 with priority given to all healthcare and frontline workers in the first phase. The second phase started on March 1 where doses were administered to people above the age of 60 and those between 45 and 59 years with specific comorbidities. (AGENCY)