New Delhi: India's daily COVID-19 cases on Sunday (August 15, 2021) saw a slight dip as vaccination coverage crossed the 54-crore mark. As per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, there were 36,083 new infections in the last 24 hours, while 73,50,553 people took vaccine jab in the same time period.
The country also saw 37,927 coronavirus recoveries and 493 related deaths. With this, the total number of cases has increased to 3,21,92,576, of which, more than 3.13 crore people have recovered and 4,31,225 have died due to the virus.
India's active count currently stands at 3,85,336 and constitutes 1.20% of the country's total positive infections.
The Health Ministry also informed that a total of 19,23,863 COVID-19 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours across the country, which took the cumulative total to 49.36 crore. India's weekly positivity rate is now at 2.00% while the daily positivity rate is at 1.88%.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the efforts of the 'corona warriors' of the nation during his Independence Day speech. He said that Indians have fought the COVID-19 battle with a lot of patience.
"We had many challenges but we worked with extraordinary pace in every area. It's a result of the strength of our industrialists & scientists, that today India doesn't need to depend on any other nation for vaccines," PM Modi expressed from the Red Fort in Delhi.
"During COVID-19, our doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, sanitation workers, scientists who were developing vaccines and crores of citizens who were working with a sense of service - all those who devoted every moment to serve others in this period, deserve our appreciation," the Prime Minister added.
