India reports 20,044 fresh COVID cases in last 24 hours

New Delhi [India], July 16 (ANI): India reported 20,044 new COVID cases in the last 24 hours, crossing the 20,000 mark for the third consecutive day, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday.
The country had logged 20,038 infections yesterday.
With this, the active cases in the country rose to 1,40,760 which was 1,39,073 yesterday.
According to the Ministry, 18,301 COVID patients recovered in the last 24 hours. The number of recoveries since the onset of the pandemic stands at 4,30,63,651.
The rate of recovery currently is 98.48 per cent.
As many as 56 patients lost their lives in the last 24 hours taking the death toll to 5,25,660.
4,17,895 COVID tests were conducted during this period and the daily positivity rate in the country was 4.80 per cent (a little more than yesterday, 4.44 per cent), and the weekly positivity rate was 4.40 per cent (4.30 per cent yesterday).
Under the nationwide vaccination drive in the country, 22,93,627 COVID vaccines were administered in the last 24 hours while 1,99,71,61,438 COVID doses have been jabbed in the country so far.
Meanwhile, with an aim to increase the uptake of the precautionary dose of COVID vaccine among the eligible adult population, 75 days - 'COVID Vaccination Amrit Mahotsava' will commence on Friday, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
This special vaccination drive is a part of the celebration for Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav and aims to provide free precaution dose for all adults (18 years and above) eligible population at Government COVID Vaccination Centres (CVCs).
In a virtual meeting with State/UT Health Secretaries and NHM MDs chaired by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Thursday, States and UTs have been urged to give an intensive and ambitious push toward full COVID-19 vaccination coverage by vaccinating all eligible beneficiaries and covering them with precaution dose. (ANI)