A single day rise of 67,208 new coronavirus infections were recorded taking India's total tally of COVID-19 cases to 2,97,00,313, while the active cases declined to 8,26,740, the lowest after 71 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

The COVID-19 death count climbed to 3,81,903 with 2,330 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed

The active cases declined to 8,26,740 comprising 2.78 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 95.93 per cent.

A net decline of 38,692 cases has been recorded in the COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

As many as 19,31,249 tests were conducted on Wednesday taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 38,52,38,220.

The daily positivity rate was recorded 3.48 per cent . It has been less than 5 per cent for the 10th consecutive day, the ministry said, adding the weekly positivity rate has declined to 3.99 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand government has directed the Haridwar district administration to register a case against private laboratories accused of conducting fake Covid tests during the Kumbh Mela. The private laboratories, mainly based in Delhi and Haryana, were engaged by the state government to conduct tests during the Kumbh Mela, one of the world's largest religious gatherings, from April 1 to 30. 

"Uttarakhand government has ordered the Haridwar district administration to register FIR in Covid testing scam during Mahakumbh. Order issued to file a case against labs from Delhi and Haryana, which conducted testing at 5 places in Haridwar during Kumbh Mela," state government's spokesperson Subodh Uniyal told news agency ANI.

Source: NDTV

BDST: 1350 HRS, JUN 17, 2021
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