India records 18,833 fresh Covid cases, 278 deaths

New Delhi: India on Wednesday reported 18,333 fresh Covid cases and 278 deaths in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said.

A total of 24,770 patients also recovered in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative tally of recoveries to 3,31,75,656. India's recovery rate stands at 97.94 per cent - the highest since March 2020.

Active caseload is presently 2,46,687, which is the lowest in 203 days. Active cases presently constitute 0.73 per cent of the country's total cases.

Meanwhile, the fresh deaths have taken the toll to 4,49,538, as per the Health Ministry data.

The weekly positivity rate, at 1.68 per cent, remains less than 3 per cent for the last 103 days now, while the daily positivity rate is 1.34 per cent, having remained below 3 per cent for last 37 days and below 5 per cent for 120 consecutive days now.

The last 24 hours saw a total of 14,09,825 tests being conducted, taking the cumulative total to over 57.68 crore.

With 59,48,360 vaccine doses administered in the last 24 hours, India's Covid-19 vaccination coverage crossed the 92 crore mark as per provisional reports till 7 a.m. on Wednesday. This has been achieved through 89,35,354 sessions.

Over 92.57 crore vaccine doses have been provided to states/UTs so far through the Centre as well as the direct state procurement category. However, more than 6.93 cr unutilised vaccine doses are still available with the states/UTs to be administered, the health ministry data said.