India reports 19,740 new Covid-19 cases; active caseload lowest in 206 days

Cases in the last 24 hours, ending at 8 am on Saturday. The active caseload in the country has dropped to 2.36 lakh (2,36,643), the lowest in 206 days, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said. With 284 people succumbing to the deadly infection, the death toll has crossed 4.5 lakh.

Kerala remains the biggest contributor to the national caseload, adding 10,944 fresh cases. With 120 new deaths, the state is also reporting the highest number of daily covid fatalities.

Amid criticism for alleged under-reporting, the Kerala government has decided to add 7,000 deaths to the states death toll. The addition would take the state’s Covid-19 death toll from 26,000 to 33,000, as on

Saturday.

Announcing the decision, state Health Minister Veena George said 7,000 cases had gone unreported in official data for want of relevant records. “If complaints exist about omissions in the list, the Health Department is open to look into them,” she said.