New Delhi: India recorded 29,689 fresh infections in the past 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry reported. The recovery rate at 97.39 percent accounted for 42,363 recuperations in the last 24 hours taking the total recoveries to 3,06,21,469.

The daily positivity rate stood at 1.73 per cent, less than 5 per cent. The active caseload stands at 3,98,100 accounting for 1.27 per cent of the total number of cases. 13,089 active cases were reported in the last 24 hours. However, the mortality rate recorded at 1.34 per cent reported 415 fatalities, taking the cumulative death toll to 4,21,382.

Latest data by the health ministry indicates ‘R’ value at 0.98 close to the danger mark 1. It has flagged the ‘R’ value worryingly high as a steady rise from 0.85 to 0.95 has been recorded over the past few weeks. An ‘R’ of 1.0 means, one person will on average infect one another person. 

Kerala has arisen as the new hotspot of the nation. It is now the worst affected state reporting 1.37 lakh active cases.  In the north-eastern region, the surge is reportedly fuelled by the ‘delta variant’ as Assam, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura reported a spike.

Over 44.19 crore vaccine doses have been administered in the country so far, the health ministry said. 66,03,112 beneficiaries have been immunized in the past 24 hours.