India reports 43,654 new COVID-19 cases in last 24 hrs

India on Wednesday recorded 43,654 fresh cases of COVID cases in the past 24 hours - the highest in three weeks, according to the Union Health Ministry. During this period, the country reported 41,678 recoveries and 640 COVID-19 -related deaths, the Health Ministry said.

3,06,63,147 patients have been discharged so far, the data showed.

The daily COVID caseload is the highest in three weeks. Among the high COVID caseload states, Kerala continues to be the top-most contributor with 22,129 cases, the maximum in two months.

The active cases show a slight increase and currently stand at 3,99,436. 1.45 lakh of the total active infections are in Kerala.

The Union Health Ministry had on Tuesday reported a rise in daily new COVID cases in 22 districts across seven states, calling it a "cause for concern". Seven of these districts are in Kerala, and two in Maharashtra, with the rest spread across the Northeast.

All this came a day after India recorded less than 30,000 fresh COVID-19 cases after 132 days while its active caseload fell below 4,00,000 after 124 days on Tuesday.

As many as 29,689 new coronavirus infections took the country's tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,14,40,951 while 415 fresh fatalities pushed the death toll to 4,21,382, the data updated at 8 am showed on Tuesday.

The number of active cases dropped to 3,98,100 and comprises 1.27 per cent of the total infections. The national COVID-19 recovery rate improved to 97.39 per cent, it stated.

The number of active cases fell by 13,089 in a span of 24 hours, the data showed. As many as 17,20,110 COVID-19 tests were conducted on Monday, taking the total number of tests conducted so far to 45,91,64,121.

The daily positivity rate declined to 1.73 per cent. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.33 per cent, the ministry data stated. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,06,21,469, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.34 per cent, it said.

The total number of COVID vaccine doses administered so far as part of the nationwide vaccination drive has reached 44.19 crore.

A total of 4,21,382 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,31,605 from Maharashtra, 36,405 from Karnataka, 33,937 from Tamil Nadu, 25,044 from Delhi, 22,750 from Uttar Pradesh and 18,085 from West Bengal.

The Health Ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.