New Covid-19 cases decreased in the country for the second day in a row with 48,698 more people testing positive for Covid-19, said the Union health ministry on Saturday.

With this, the cumulative caseload of India has reached 3,01,83,143.

The daily fatalities declined too after seeing an upward trajectory for two days. As many as 1,183 more people have succumbed to the coronavirus infection, taking the death toll to 3,94,493.

Further, the daily recoveries continue to outnumber fresh cases 64,818 more people were discharged between Friday and Saturday. The total number of discharges has jumped up to 2,91,93,085.

As a result, the active tally has dipped below the six lakh mark once again. There are 5,95,565 active cases left in the country currently, dipping by 17,303 in the last 24 hours.

Tests conducted so far

India has tested 40,18,11,892 samples for Covid-19 until now, according to the India Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Out of these, 17,45,809 samples were tested on Friday. As many as 17,35,781 tests were conducted during the previous 24-hour period.

Vaccination in India

The country attained a milestone on Friday as the total inoculation numbers crossed the 31-crore mark.

India has so far administered 31,50,45,926 anti-Covid shots, said the health ministry. As many as 61,19,169 from these were given in the last 24 hours.

Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have administered at least one dose of the vaccine to more than 10 lakh beneficiaries of the 18-44 age group.

Immunising pregnant women

The central government on Friday approved the Covid-19 vaccination for pregnant women.

"The ministry of health has issued guidelines that the Covid-19 vaccine can be given to pregnant women. The vaccine is useful for pregnant women and it should be given," said Dr Balram Bhargava, Director-General at ICMR.

The move comes few weeks after the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended vaccination of pregnant women when the benefits of the jabs outweigh the potential risks.

The decision assumes importance as a recent study by the ICMR showed that the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic hit pregnant and postpartum women more severely compared to the first, with significantly higher symptomatic cases and case fatality rate.

Delta Plus variant

The Centre has informed that 50 cases of Delta Plus variant of Covid-19 have been recorded across 11 states of India, adding that the maximum number of cases were in Maharashtra.

Further, it said that strain has been detected in 12 other countries too.

Maharashtra has a total of 20 cases of the new mutation and Tamil Nadu has nine cases. Madhya Pradesh is next on the list with seven cases and Kerala with three cases, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Karnataka, have reported one case each.

Gujarat and Punjab are also on the list with two cases each, respectively. The Union Territory of Jammu has also reported one case.

The Centre maintained that 90% of the coronavirus cases in India are being driven by the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant.