India records 37,975 new COVID-19 cases, 480 deaths in 24 hours

New Delhi: India reported 37,975 new COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours and 480 deaths due to the disease, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday.

The total cases in the country now stands at 91,77,841 including 86,04,955 recoveries and 4,38,667 active cases. With 480 new deaths, the cumulative toll reached 1,34,218.

The country is reporting around 30,000 to 47,000- daily new cases for the past some days. Today is the seventeenth day when India reported less than 50,000 cases in a day. The last time daily new cases crossed the 50,000-threshold was on November 7.

Maharashtra continues to be on the top in the list of worst-COVID affected states with 82,915 active cases, followed by Kerala with 64,292 active cases. In the wake of the pandemic situation, the Maharashtra government announced that people travelling from Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Goa by flights or trains will have to carry the RT-PCR negative test report.

Delhi, which has been witnessing a surge in new coronavirus infections currently, has 37,329 cases.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 10,99,545 samples were tested on Monday while 13,36,82,275 samples have been tested so far.

On Monday, the Union Health Ministry said that the recovery rate continues reached 93.68 per cent and informed that ten States/UTs have contributed 78.74 per cent of the new cases.

The Central government has decided to depute high-level teams to Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to support these States in COVID-19 response and management. These States have been either reporting a rise in the number of active cases i.e. those who are hospitalised or are in home isolation under medical supervision or demonstrating a rise in the daily new cases.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting with chief ministers of various states over the COVID-19 situation, through video conferencing.

He had earlier chaired several meetings with chief ministers in the past six months over the pandemic.