India on Saturday registered 16,326 fresh Covid cases and 666 deaths, according to the latest data from the Union Health Ministry. The new fatalities have increased the overall death toll to 4,53,708.

The number of daily deaths increased after Kerala revised data to add 292 fatalities from previous periods.

The recovery of 17,677 patients in the last 24 hours has increased the cumulative tally to 3,35,32,126.

Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 98.16 per cent, currently at its highest peak since March 2020.

The active caseload remains below the 2 lakh mark and is presently at 1,73,728 which is the lowest in 233 days.

Active cases presently constitute 0.51 per cent of the country’s total positive cases, which is the lowest since March 2020.

The testing capacity across the country continues to be expanded. The last 24 hours saw a total of 13,64,681 tests being conducted.

With this, the country has so far conducted over 59.84 crore cumulative tests.

Red flags have been raised, though, over a spurt in cases in West Bengal following Durga Puja celebrations; cases have increased from 451 to 833 in a seven-day period. Experts are particularly concerned because several of the new cases are asymptomatic, suggesting more may be infected Over the past 24 hours the state logged 846 cases.

Kerala reported over 9,000 cases in 24 hours. Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu each reported over 1,000. The other major contributor to daily new cases was Mizoram with 745 reported. These four have the highest active caseloads among all states.

While testing capacity has been enhanced across the country, the weekly positivity rate at 1.24 per cent has remained less than 2 per cent for the last 29 days now.

The daily positivity rate at 1.20 per cent has been below 2 per cent for the last 19 days and less than 3 per cent for 54 consecutive days now.

With the administration of 68,48,417 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India’s Covid-19 inoculation coverage has reached 101.3 crores. This has been achieved through 1,00,29,602 sessions.

More than 105.7 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses have been provided to states and Union Territories to date as a part of the nationwide vaccination drive, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed on Saturday.

Further, the ministry informed that more than 12 crores (12,02,54,104) balance and unutilized COVID vaccine doses are still available with the states and union territories to be administered.

(With IANS inputs)