In a break from the COVID-19 trend that was ongoing in Kerala for past week, the Pinarayi Vijayan-led state on Monday reported less than 50,000 new cases on Monday. While Kerala reported 42,154 fresh COVID-19 infections, other major cities of the country also reported a significant fall in the cases, namely, Delhi (2,779 cases), Mumbai (960 cases), Bengaluru (10,692 cases), Chennai (2,897 cases), and Kolkata (179 cases).

About 90 per cent of India’s adult population has received the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine whereas over 70 per cent adult population is now fully vaccinated, President Ram Nath Kovind told a joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament on the inaugural day of Budget session.

Among the metropolises, Mumbai’s daily caseload fell below 1,000 for the first time since December 27.

Among other major contributors to bulk of COVID-19 caseload, Karnataka reported 24,172 new COVID-19 cases with a test positivity rate of 17.11 per cent. Tamil Nadu reported 19,280 new COVID-19 cases. Gujarat on Monday added 6,679 new COVID-19 cases. West Bengal reports 1,910 new COVID-19 cases.

India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage crossed 166.59 crore today. Over 53 lakh vaccine doses administered till 7pm today. More than 1 crore precaution doses for the identified categories of beneficiaries for Covid vaccination have been administered so far, Union Health Ministry informed in a statement.

India reported 2.09 lakh new COVID-19 cases on Monday morning, down from Sunday’s 2.34 lakh infections on Sunday. The active case load now stands at 18,31,268 while the recovery rate marginally rose to 94.37 per cent. The weekly positivity rate is 15.77 per cent, up from 14.5 per cent a day earlier whereas the daily positivity rate is 15.75 per cent, down from 16.4 per cent a day earlier.

(With inputs from agencies)