India reported nearly 16,000 new Covid cases and 68 fatalities, including 24 reconciled by Kerala, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Saturday.

The 8-am data also showed active cases came down by 4,271 in a span of 24 hours to stand at 1,19,264, constituting 0.27 per cent of the total infections.

The new 15,815 coronavirus infections and 68 deaths pushed the overall figures to

4,42,39,372 cases and 5,26,996 deaths, according to the data.

The national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.54 per cent, the health ministry said.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 4.36 per cent, while the weekly rate was 4.79 per cent. The case fatality rate stands at 1.19 per cent.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has risen to 4,35,93,112, according to the ministry.

It also said 207.71 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19 that year. It crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4, 2021, three crore on June 23, and four crore on January 25 this year.