India's COVID-19 tally rises to 10,689,527

NEW DELHI: India's COVID-19 tally rose to 10,689,527 on Wednesday even as 12,689 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours, said the latest data from the federal health ministry.

According to the official data, the death toll mounted to 153,724 as 137 COVID-19 patients died since Tuesday morning.

There are still 176,498 active cases in the country, while 10,359,305 people have been discharged so far from hospitals after medical treatment.

The country has seen the first time in nearly seven months when the number of active COVID-19 cases in the country fell below the 200,000-mark on Jan. 20.

India's nationwide vaccination drive was kicked off on Jan. 16, and more than 2 million people, mainly health workers, have been vaccinated across the country.

Meanwhile, the federal government has ramped up COVID-19 testing facilities across the country, even as over 190 million tests have been conducted so far.

As many as 193,613,120 tests were conducted till Tuesday, out of which 550,426 tests were conducted on Tuesday alone, said the latest data issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Wednesday.

The national capital Delhi, one of the most COVID-19 affected places in the country, has been witnessing comparatively fewer cases over the past several months.

As many as 157 new cases and seven deaths were registered in the national capital through Tuesday.

So far as many as 10,820 people have died in the national capital due to COVID-19, confirmed Delhi's health department.

Two types of vaccines are being administered to the people in India.

While the Covishield vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India (SII) was supplied to all states, the Covaxin vaccine, made by the Bharat Biotech International Limited, was supplied to only 12 states.