COVID-19 India Update: 30,006 New Cases Take Country's Virus Tally To 98,26,775

New Delhi: The COVID-19 positive cases in India climbed to 98.26 lakh with 30,006 new cases in the last 24 hours, while 93,24,328 people have recuperated so far pushing the national recovery rate to 94.88 per cent on Saturday, as per the data revealed by Union health ministry on Saturday.

The total coronavirus cases mounted to 98,26,775 and the death toll climbed to 1,42,628 with the virus claiming 442 lives in a span of 24 hours in the country, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The COVID-19 case fatality rate further declined to 1.45 per cent.

There are 3,59,819 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 3.66 per cent of the total caseload, the data showed.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, a cumulative total of 15,26,97,399 samples have been tested up to December 11 with 10,65,176 samples being tested on Friday.

Maharashtra continues to be the worst-hit state with 18,72,440 cases till date. Over 72 per cent of the daily new cases were reported by 10 states and UT -- Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Haryana.

As many as eight Covid-19 vaccine candidates are under different stages of clinical trials which could be ready for authorisation in near future, including three indigenous vaccines.

It includes Astrazeneca and Oxford university developed and Serum Institute of India manufactured Covishield, Covaxin by Bharat Biotech Limited, ZyCoV-D by Zydus Cadila, Russian vaccine candidate Sputnik-V, NVX-CoV2373 by SII, HGCO19 by Geneva, and two unlabeled vaccines-Recombinant Protein Antigen based vaccine by Biological E Limited-and Inactivated rabies vector platform by Bharat Biotech.

(With PTI/IANS Inputs)