New Delhi: India recorded more than 20,000 new COVID-19 cases for the second consecutive day on Friday as it logged 20,038 infections in the last 24 hours, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

India had breached the 20,000 mark after 145 days logging 20,139 cases on Thursday. The active cases in the country reached up to 1,39,073 .

In the past 24 hours, 16,994 COVID patients have made full recoveries, bringing the total number of recoveries since the start of the epidemic in the nation to 4,30,45,350. Currently, the recovery rate is 98.48%.

Meanwhile, 47 people reportedly died from the infection during this time, according to the Ministry. The country's death toll increased to 5,25,604.  In the last 24 hours, 4,50,820 samples were tested across the nation; the daily positivity rate was 4.44 percent (up from 5.10 percent yesterday), and the weekly positivity rate was 4.30 percent (4.37 percent yesterday).

In the past 24 hours, 18,92,969 doses of the COVID vaccine were administered as part of the nationwide vaccination campaign. A total of 1,99,47,34,994 vaccinations have been administered to date.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare announced that the 75-day "COVID Vaccination Amrit Mahotsava" will begin on Friday in an effort to improve the eligible adult population's uptake of the prophylactic dosage of COVID vaccination.

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