14 regions log zero Covid deaths in 24 hrs: Government

India has reported no Covid-19-related deaths in 14 states and Union Territories in the past 24 hours, said the Union ministry of health and family welfare on Wednesday. The country also became the fastest country to reach the 4 million Covid-19 vaccination mark in 18 days, the ministry said.

“India’s fight against Covid-19 is bringing daily successes... Fourteen states/UTs have not reported any deaths in the last 24 hours,” said the health ministry in a statement.

These states and Union Territories that have not reported any deaths are Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Daman and Diu & Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland, Lakshadweep, Ladakh, Sikkim, Manipur, Puducherry, Goa, Odisha and Assam.

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“With a high number of Covid-19 patients recovering every day and the sustained fall in the mortality rate, India’s steady trend of registering dipping active cases continues. The country’s active cases have declined further to 1,60,057 in the last 24 hours. The active caseload of the country has fallen below 1.5% (1.49% presently) of the total cases,” the ministry statement further said.

Kerala has the highest weekly positivity rate of 12%, followed by Chhattisgarh with 7%, and Maharashtra at 4.50%.

“Usually under 5% positivity rate is when it is considered that the disease transmission has come under control. Anything above 10% means it needs to be brought down for the transmission cycle to break,” said Jugal Kishore, professor and head, department of community medicine, New Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital.

Meanwhile, Covid-19 vaccination drive is also going strong in the country, with India reaching the 4 million mark in 18 days of having launched the drive on January 16, which is the fastest as compared to many other countries that have vaccinated its people in large numbers, the ministry said. The United States of America reached the 4 million mark within 20 days, Israel and United Kingdom took 39 days to reach this target.