Covid-19: India logs 22,842 more cases

India reported 22,842 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, a slight decrease of six per cent from Saturday.

At least 244 deaths were also recorded in the country due to the coronavirus, which took the death count to 4,48,817, reports NDTV.

India's active cases account for less than 1 per cent of total infections, currently at 0.80 per cent -- lowest since March 2020. The active case count stands at 2,70,557, lowest in 199 days.

The national Covid recovery rate was recorded at 97.87 per cent, highest since March 2020. At least 25,930 recoveries in the last 24 hours took the number of total recoveries to 3,30,94,529.

The daily positivity rate - number of positive cases identified per 100 - stands at 1.80 per cent, less than 3 per cent for last 34 days. The weekly positivity rate stands at 1.66 per cent.

A total of 90.51 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive. Children between 12 to 18 years of age will be vaccinated against Covid-19 very soon, Dr Randeep Guleria, Director of All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, has said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has credited India's "stunning success in vaccinating its people" to the country being atmanirbhar or self-reliant, adding that he made sure that technology formed the backbone of the vaccination process.

Kerala has also announced the relaxation of several restrictions -- movie theatres and auditoriums will reopen from October 25 with 50 per cent occupancy for those who have taken two doses of any coronavirus vaccine.

The UK government updated its official advisory for its nationals travelling to India following New Delhi's decision to impose reciprocal curbs on the British visitors from Monday, and said it was in "close contact" with Indian authorities on the issue.

The updated travel advisory noted an additional Covid-19 test on day eight and a 10-day mandatory quarantine for all travellers going to India from Britain from Monday.