COVID-19 positivity rate falls to 9.42 per cent: Health Ministry

India's daily COVID-19 positivity rate has reduced and now stands at 9.42 per cent, while the count of single-day recoveries outnumbered that of new cases for the 13th consecutive day, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

A total of 22,17,320 tests, the highest in a day, were conducted on Tuesday taking the cumulative number so far in the country to 33,48,11,496, while the daily positivity declined to 9.42 per cent, it said.

This is the second day in a row that the case positivity rate has remained below 10 per cent, the ministry said. The weekly positivity rate has also declined to 11.45 per cent.

India registered 2,95,955 recoveries in a single day as against 2,08,921 new cases. The number of cumulative recoveries has reached 2,43,50,816.

The count of daily new cases has remained below three lakh for 10 consecutive days now.

The country's active COVID-19 caseload has also reduced to 24,95,591, a net decline of 91,191 in a span of 24 hours. It now comprises 9.19 per cent of the total positive cases.

A total of 20,06,62,456 vaccine doses have been administered through 28,70,378 sessions in the country so far, according to a provisional report prepared at 7 am on Wednesday.

These include 97,96,058 healthcare workers (HCWs) who have taken the first dose and 67,29,213 HCWs who have taken the second dose, 1,51,71,950 frontline workers (FLWs) who have received the first dose, 83,84,001 FLWs who have taken the second dose, and 1,29,57,009 beneficiaries in the 18-44 age group who have taken the first dose.

Besides, 6,20,88,772 and 1,00,30,729 beneficiaries aged 45 to 60 years have been administered the first and the second dose respectively.

In the above-60 category, 5,71,35,804 beneficiaries have received their first dose of the vaccine and 1,83,68,920 beneficiaries have taken their second dose.