NEW DELHI: Amid a distressing upward trend, India clocked 14,989 new Covid-19 cases and 98 fatalities in the last 24 hours, which pulled up the overall infection tally and death toll to 1,11,39,516 and 1,57,346, respectively, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

According to Ministry's data, there are presently 1,70,126 active cases after 13,123 patients were discharged in a day. According to experts, a number of possibilities which could be attributed to the concerning situation ranging from lax attitude of people towards following Covid protocols to the likeability of "mutations and new strains", as has been studied by the laboratories involved in virus detection across the country.

In mid-February, officials had said that the average daily new infections oscillated between 9,000 to 12,000, while the deaths were between 78 to 120. On February 9, India had reported 9,110 new cases, the lowest this year so far. In 2020, the lowest 9,633 cases were recorded on June 3.

As of now, 1,08,12,044 persons have been discharged. The recovery rate has reduced to 97.06 percent. Five states viz Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Punjab and Tamil Nadu cumulatively account for 84.16 percent of the total active cases in the country.

Till now, 1,56,20,749 doses of corona vaccine have been administered in the country since the mass inoculation drive began on January 16.

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