India sees slight rise in daily COVID-19 cases, records 45,951 new infections in 24 hours

File Photo (Reuters)

New Delhi: India saw a slight rise in daily COVID-19 cases and recorded 45,951 new infections in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Wednesday (June 30, 2021) morning.

The country currently has 5,37,064 active coronavirus cases. The national weekly positivity rate now stands at 2.69 per cent and the daily positivity rate is at 2.34 per cent.

There were also 817 deaths and 60,729 recoveries between Tuesday and Wednesday morning. The total number of cases in India has now increased to 3,03,62,848, of which, 2,94,27,330 have recovered, while 3,98,454 have died of the virus. 

Earlier on Tuesday, the Centre had asked all the states and UTs to focus on the five-fold strategy of COVID-19 management. 

In a letter to the Chief Secretaries, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said the states should regularly monitor the districts with a high number of active coronavirus cases per million (10 lakh) population as it is an important indicator to predict the need for upgrading the health infrastructure and logistics.

"There should be a continuous focus on the five-fold strategy for an effective management of COVID-19, ie, Test-track-treat-vaccination and adherence to COVID-appropriate behaviour," he said.

As the states have started easing lockdown and curfew curbs, Bhalla also said that the process of relaxing the restrictions should be 'carefully calibrated'. 

"While easing the restrictions, it must be ensured that there is no let-up in adherence to COVID-appropriate behaviour," the home secretary added.

He also said that prompt and targeted action needs to be taken by the states in line with the advisory issued by the Union Health Ministry.

"States, UTs should closely monitor case positivity and bed occupancy on a regular basis, taking the districts as administrative units.

"On witnessing any early sign of an increase in the case positivity rate and higher bed occupancy, necessary action should be taken for containment and upgrading the health infrastructure," he noted.

Meanwhile, the total number of vaccine doses administered across the country has reached 33.28 crores. Eight states namely Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra have administered more than 50 lakh first doses of COVID-19 vaccine.