NEW DELHI:   India witnessed a considerable spike in Covid-19 infections on Saturday, with 13,216 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, up from 12,847 the day before,  the Union Health Ministry said in its report.

During the same time period, 23 new fatalities took place, bringing the total number of deaths to 5,24,840. The number of active cases grew to 68,108, accounting for 0.16 percent of all positive cases in the country.

In the last 24 hours, 8,148 patients have been recovered, bringing the total to 4,26,90,845. Consequently, India's recovery rate is 98.63 percent. The daily positivity rate went up slightly to 2.73 percent, but the weekly positivity rate remained at 2.47 percent. 

In the last 24 hours,  4,84,924 tests were carried out across the country, bringing the total to over 85.73 crore. India's Covid-19 immunisation coverage has surpassed 196 crore as of Saturday morning,  that achieved through 2,52,66,330 sessions.

Since the start of the immunisation campaign for this age group, almost 3.56 crore adolescents have received their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine.

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