New Delhi, May 14:

India on Friday registered 343,144 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the country’s total coronavirus infection tally past the 24-million mark. 4,000 new fatalities were recorded, taking the death toll to 262,317. The country’s total case count has now reached 24,046,809, according to the Union health ministry’s dashboard.

The active coronavirus cases currently stand at 3,704,893. This accounts for 15.65% of the total confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country. As many as 344,776 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours and so far, and 20,079,599 people in total have recovered from the viral disease, the health ministry’s dashboard displayed. With this, the country’s recovery rate stands at 83.2%, the government said.

The country has tested a total of 31,13,24,100 samples as of May 13. Out of this, 18,75,515 samples were tested for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Twitter.

The Union health ministry has said that Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are among the states that account for 82.5% of the total active cases in the country.

Meanwhile, government advisor VK Paul has said that over 200 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines will likely be available in India between August to December this year.

“Two billion doses (216 crore) will be made in the country in five months for India and for people of India. The vaccine will be available for all as we move forward. By the first quarter of the next year, the number is likely to be 300 crore,” Paul added.