India saw a further decline in new Covid-19 cases with 58,419 more people testing positive in the last 24 hours, said the Union health ministry on Sunday morning.

This is the first time in the last 81 days that the country has seen less than 60,000 fresh infections. The cumulative caseload has risen to 2,98,81,965.

The daily positivity rate is at 3.22% while the weekly positive rate rests at 3.43%.

In addition to this, new fatalities have dipped as compared to the previous day too with 1,576 succumbing to the disease. The number stood at 1,647 on Saturday. This has taken the death toll due to Covid-19 in India to 3,86,713.

Further, the number of recoveries surpassed the new cases yet again as 87,619 people were discharged between Saturday and Sunday. The total number of discharges now stands at 2,87,66,009 and the recovery rate has improved to 96.27%.

As a result, the active cases have declined to 7,29,243, dipping by 30,776 in the last 24 hours.

Tests conducted so far

India has tested 39,10,19,083 samples for Covid-19 until now, according to the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR).

Out of these, 18,11,446 samples were tested on Thursday. As many as 19,02,009 tests were conducted in similar duration the previous day.

Vaccination in India

The country has so far administered 27,66,93,572 anti-Covid jabs. Out of these, 38,10,554 shots were given in the last 24 hours.

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 the first dose of the vaccine to more than 10 lakh beneficiaries in the 18-44 age group.

Centre's guidelines to states

The central government has asked states to step up vaccination and open up activities in a "carefully calibrated" manner, expressing concern about crowding in markets and other places.

States and UTs have also been urged to ensure the "extremely important" five-fold strategy of Covid-appropriate behaviour, test-track-treat and vaccination is followed to prevent a relapse.

Earlier, India's epidemiologists had indicated that the third wave of Covid-19 is inevitable and is likely to start from September-October.

Projections for third wave

The third wave might hit India in the next six to eight weeks if people stop wearing masks, avoid social distancing and ignore other Covid-appropriate behaviours, warned AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria.

Guleria said so far, only a sizeable population of the country has been vaccinated therefore Covid-appropriate behaviour needs to be followed aggressively.

He recommended the need for stricter surveillance and area-specific lockdowns in case of a significant surge in Covid cases.