DW BUREAU / chandigarh Punjab on Tuesday registered 409 new cases of COVID-19, taking the infection tally to 5,93,063, while 20 more fatalities pushed the toll to 15,888, according to a medical bulletin. There are 5,968 aive cases in the state, it said. Deaths were reported from several districts including Amritsar, Bathinda Faridkot and Ludhiana. Fazilka reported 48 infections, followed by 36 in Jalandhar and 34 in Ludhiana, among the fresh cases. The state's positivity rate stands at 0.91 per cent. With 880 recoveries, the number of cured people reached 5,71,207, according to the bulletin. There are 155 critical patients who are on ventilator support, 438 other critical patients and 1,813 are on oxygen support, the bulletin said. A total of 1,05,01,071 samples have been collected for testing so far in the state, it said. Meanwhile, Chandigarh reported 22 new cases, taking the infection tally to 61,467, according to the bulletin. No death was reported on Tuesday while the toll stands at 806, it said. The number of active cases dropped to 278. With 56 patients being discharged after they recovered from the infection, the number of cured people reached 60,383, the bulletin said. A total of 5,54,164 samples have been taken for testing so far and of them, 4,91,447 tested negative while reports of 22 samples were awaited, it said. India recorded less than 50,000 new coronavirus infections, the lowest in 91 days, taking the total tally of cases to 2,99,77,861, while active cases fell below 7 lakh after 79 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday. A total of 42,640 Covid infections were reported in a day, while the death toll climbed to 3,89,302 with 1,167 daily fatalities, the lowest in 68 days. According to the data published at 7 am, India administered 86.16 lakh vaccine doses, the highest ever single-day vaccination achieved in the world so far, the Health Ministry said. Cumulatively, 28.87 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under the nationwide inoculation drive. The active cases have further declined to 6,62,521, comprising 2.21 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 96.49 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed. A net decline of 40,366 cases has been recorded in the caseload in a span of 24 hours. Also, 16,64,360 tests were conducted on Monday, taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 39,40,72,142, while the daily positivity rate has declined to 2.56 per cent. It has been less than 5 per cent for 15 consecutive days, the ministry said. The weekly positivity rate has declined to 3.21 per cent Recoveries continued to outnumber daily new cases for 40 consecutive days. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 2,89,26,038, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.30 per cent, the data stated. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19. India crossed the grim milestone of 2 crore on May 4. The 1,167 new fatalities include 352 from Maharashtra, 189 from Tamil Nadu and 142 from Karnataka. A total of 3,89,302 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 1,18,313 from Maharashtra, 34,025 from Karnataka, 31,386 from Tamil Nadu, 24,925 from Delhi, 22,224 from Uttar Pradesh, 17,390 from West Bengal, 15,854 from Punjab and 13,395 from Chhattisgarh. The Health Ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities. "Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation. Punjab government has introduced free testing and treatment of Hepatitis B in all government health institutions, Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said on Tuesday. Presiding over the statewide launch of the initiative at district hospital in Mohali, Sidhu said the state government has introduced Hepatitis B screening tests and treatment in all medical colleges, District Hospitals (DHs), Sub-Divisional Hospitals (SDHs) and AntiRetroviral Treatment (ART) and Oral Substitution Therapy (OST) centres. "In addition, Hepatitis B viral load testing facility will be extended at 27 centres, free of cost for the benefit of marginalized sections," he said. "State Health Department has entered into a rate contract with Oncquest Laboratories under which they have provided a laboratory technician at every District Hospital and Government Medical College. (editor@dailyworld.in)