India Covid-19 update: More than 53000 new cases, 354 deaths recorded in one day

Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, March 31 (EMN): India recorded 53,480 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours with eight states — Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh – accounting for 84.73% of fresh cases.

The Union Health ministry informed on Wednesday that India’s active caseload has reached 5,52,566 and the nationwide tally has increased to 12,149,335.

Maharashtra reported highest daily new cases at 27,918, followed by Chhattisgarh with 3,108 and Karnataka with 2,975.

The country also registered 41,280 recoveries in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative recoveries till date to 1,14,34,301 at 94.11% recovery rate.

The ministry went on to inform that more than 6,30,54,353 (approximately 6.30 crore) vaccine doses have been administered through 10,46,757 sessions so far. These include 82,16,239 HCWs (1st dose), 52,19,525 HCWs (2nd dose), 90,48,417 FLWs (1st dose) and 37,90,467 FLWs (2nd Dose), 73,52,957 (1st Dose) and 6,824 (2nd dose) beneficiaries aged more than 45 years with specific co-morbidities and 2,93,71,422 (1st Dose) and 48,502 (2nd dose) beneficiaries aged more than 60 years.

In view of the nation initiating Covid vaccination drive for those aged 45 and above from April 1, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and National Health Authority CEO, Dr. R S Sharma, who is also the chairperson of Empowered Group on Covid Vaccination, organised a high-level meeting through video conference on Wednesday with Health Secretaries, State Mission Directors of NHM and State Immunization officers of all States and UTs to review the preparation, status, pace and issues regarding Covid vaccination across the country.