India's active COVID-19 tally drops further: 51,667 new cases and 1,329 deaths reported in last 24 hours

India's active COVID-19 tally continues to drop, with the daily recoveries exceeding new cases for the 43rd consecutive day. On Friday morning, Health Ministry data indicated that there had been 51,667 new cases and 1,329 deaths reported in the last 24 hours. During this time, 64,527 patients recovered from COVID-19.

With this, India has reported 3,01,34,445 positive cases since the pandemic began last year. The cumulative death toll now stands at 3,93,310. The recovery rate has now increased to 96.66% while the weekly positivity rate stands at 3%.

At the same time India's vaccination drive continues to gain momentum, with 30.79 crore doses having been administered till date. As per the Health Ministry update, India administered 60.73 lakh vaccine doses in last 24 hours.

At the state level, Maharashtra presently leads the charts with 1,24,911 active cases. Two other states, Karnataka and Kerala, also have active caseloads above the one lakh mark. While most states continue to show a decline in cases, as compared to the previous day, some fluctuations have now emerged.

Even as the Delta variant of COVID-19 becomes a growing concern for countries around the world, India is now contending with an additional mutation. 'Delta Plus' has been declared a variant of concern by the Centre, with several cases being reported recently. Most of the COVID-19 cases of the mutant variant in India have been found are from Maharashtra, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh. The health ministry has advised officials to ramp up containment measures in the affected districts of the above-mentioned states.

Though there is no indication yet of the severity of the disease due to the new variant, 'Delta Plus' is resistant to the monoclonal antibody cocktail treatment for COVID-19 recently authorised in India. Experts however say that it is too early early to say whether Delta Plus will be a contributing factor for a potential third wave of the pandemic. Several studies are underway on the mutant variant.

(With inputs from agencies)