The dreaded Covid-19 pandemic continued to recede in India, with the country  reporting only 12,143 fresh cases of coronavirus nationwide, of which 9,067 or 75% were confined to two states- Maharashtra and Kerala.

The rest of the states reported less than 500 cases each and there were several amongst them in which the daily count has fallen to double digit figures.

The fact that the cricket stadium in Chennai has been allowed to fill 50% of its seats with spectators for the India-England test match reflects the growing confidence over the pandemic having been tamed.

The net increase in Covid-19 cases on Saturday was 645 as 11,395 new cured cases were also reported for the day. The total count of active coronavirus cases now stands at 136,571, which is 86.6 per cent lower than the September 18 peak of 1,017,754.

• Maharashtra, the most affected state overall, has reported 3,670 new cases on Saturday. The state has added 26,301 cases in the past 10 days.

• Kerala, now the second-most-affected state by total tally, has added 5397 fresh cases to take its tally to 994052.

• Karnataka, the third-most-affected state, has reported 380 cases to take its tally to 944437.

• Andhra Pradesh has added 68 cases to take its tally to 888760.

• Tamil Nadu has seen its tally going up by 483 to 844173.

• Delhi has added 141 cases to take its tally to 636670.

• Uttar Pradesh has added 103 cases to take its tally to 602001.

VACCINATION DRIVE

With 462,637 more vaccinations across India on Friday, the total count of those inoculated reached 7,967,647. The count of recovered coronavirus cases across India, meanwhile, reached 10,600,625 – or 97.32 per cent of total caseload.

• India is now the seventeenth-most-affected country by active cases, fourth by fatality, and second by total and recovered cases, India has added 78,442 cases in the past 7 days.

• India now accounts for 0.54% of all active cases globally and 6.5% of all deaths (one in every 15 deaths).