By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, FEB 16, 2021: INDIA reported 9,121 daily new cases of coronavirus along with 11,805 recoveries and 81 fatalities in the last 24 hours, said the Ministry of Health on Tuesday.

The national tally of confirmed cases stood at 1,09,25,710 COVID-19 infections with 1,06,33,025 people who have recovered and been discharged, while deaths reached 1,55,813.

Maharashtra took the notorious top spot in fresh infections from Kerala as the State recorded 3,365 new cases - logging the highest daily count in the country since January 4. Its daily cases have also continuously crossed the 3,000-mark over the past six days in a row.

The number of active cases fell by 2,765 to land at 1,36,872, comprising 1,25 per cent of the total confirmed tally.

Health Minister Mr Harsh Vardhan on Monday said Budget 2021-22 has been "critically shaped" by the pandemic and the global public health response. He highlighted that the country is working on at least 18 to 20 vaccine candidates that are at different stages of clinical trials.

Over 87.2 lakh people have received the COVID-19 vaccine so far, said the government, including the first doses for 61,07,120 healthcare workers and 24,53,411 frontline workers and the second dose for 1,60,291 beneficiaries.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) stated that 20,73,32,298 samples had been tested up to February 15, with the positive confirmations coming from 6,15,664 samples tested in the past day.