COVID-19 update: India records over 3.26 lakh new infections, caseload mounts to 2.43 crore

India currently has 36,73,802 active coronavirus cases.

File Photo (Reuters)

New Delhi: India recorded over 3.26 lakh new COVID-19 cases that took its total caseload to 2.43 crore, as per the Union Health Ministry's data on Saturday (May 15, 2021).

There were 3,26,098 fresh infections, besides 3,890 coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours. The country, going through the second wave of the pandemic, now has 2,43,72,907 cases, of which, 2,04,32,898 have recovered, while 2,66,207 have died so far.

India currently has 36,73,802 active cases and 12 states cumulatively account for over 80 per cent of the country's total active cases with Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kerala being the worst hit.

Meanwhile, the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 18 crores. Around 3.25 lakh beneficiaries of the age group 18-44 years received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Friday.

Earlier on Friday, the WHO said that the COVID-19 situation in India remains hugely concerning, 'with several states continuing to see a worrying number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths'.

Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus highlighted that WHO is responding and has shipped thousands of oxygen concentrators, tents for mobile field hospitals, masks and other medical supplies to help India fight the second wave of coronavirus.

United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday also warned that the 'Indian variant' is more transmissible. Johnson said that since Monday, the UK has seen further clusters of the B.1.617.2, the COVID-19 variant first observed in India.

He stated that it has so far been reported especially in Bolton, Blackburn with Darwen and some other parts of the country.

"At this stage, there are some important unknowns. We believe this variant is more transmissible than the previous one – in other words, it passes more easily from person to person - but we don't know by how much," the UK PM said.