India’s COVID-19 tally rises to 10,720,048

Kathmandu : India’s COVID-19 tally rose to 10,720,048 on Friday as 18,855 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours, said the latest data from the federal health ministry.

According to the official data, the death toll mounted to 154,010 as 163 COVID-19 patients died since Thursday morning.

There are still 171,686 active cases in the country, while 10,394,352 people have been discharged so far from hospitals after medical treatment. Jan. 16 was a crucial day in India’s fight against the pandemic as the nationwide vaccination drive was kicked off during the day.

So far more than 2.8 million people, mainly health workers, have been vaccinated across the country.

Meanwhile, the federal government has ramped up COVID-19 testing facilities across the country, as over 195 million tests have been conducted so far.

As many as 195,081,079 tests were conducted till Thursday, out of which 742,306 tests were conducted on Thursday alone, said the latest data issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Friday.

The national capital Delhi, which has been one of the most COVID-19 affected places in the country, has been witnessing comparatively a lesser number of cases over past several months. As many as 199 new cases and 6 deaths were registered in the national capital through Wednesday.

Thursday was the day in over 10 months when less than 100 new cases were registered in a single day.

So far as many as 10,835 people have died in the national capital due to COVID-19, confirmed the Delhi’s health department.

Two types of vaccines are being administered to the people in India. While the Covishield vaccine, made by the Serum Institute of India (SII), was supplied to all states, the Covaxin vaccine, made by the Bharat Biotech International Limited, was supplied to only 12 states.