New Delhi [India], June 23 (ANI): With a surge in the cases of coronavirus infection in India, the country reported as many as 13,313 new cases of Covid-19 on Thursday in the last 24 hours, as compared to the 12,249 cases on Wednesday, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

According to the Ministry, 10,972 people have recovered from the infection which took the total number of recoveries to 4,27,36,027 at the rate of 98.6 per cent.

With the recorded cases, India's active caseload now stands at 83,990 at the rate of 0.19 per cent.

As per the Health Ministry, the country's daily positivity rate stands at 2.03 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate remained at 2.81 per cent.

It also informed that at least 38 people have died in the last 24 hours due to the infection.

Cumulatively, 85.94 crore covid tests have been conducted in the country so far, of which 6,56,410 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours only.

According to the Health Ministry, 196.62 crore vaccine doses against the Coronavirus infection have been administered so far under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive of the Union Government.

As part of the nationwide vaccination drive, the Government of India has been supporting the States and UTs by providing them with COVID Vaccines free of cost. In the new phase of the universalization of the COVID19 vaccination drive, the Union Government will procure and supply (free of cost) 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by the vaccine manufacturers in the country to States and UTs.

Amid the recent surge reported in COVID-19 cases across the country, the Health Ministry of India on June 9 urged States and Union Territories to not lower their guards and strictly maintain the COVID appropriate behaviour. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Thursday wrote a letter to States/UTs and directed them to ramp up RT-PCR testing, surveillance, clinical management, vaccination, COVID-19 protocols and take timely pre-emptive actions. Bhushan also advised the government to follow a 'five-fold Strategy'.

According to the sources, amid rising cases of COVID-19 in India, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will chair a review meeting with the core team of experts today in the physical format in the afternoon.

Earlier, on June 13, Mandaviya chaired a meeting through video conferencing with Health Ministers and senior officials of States and Union Territories (UTs) to review the progress of the vaccination exercise HarGharDastak 2.0 campaign.

Highlighting increased case positivity in some districts and States and reduced COVID-19 testing, Mandaviya had stated that increased and timely testing will enable early identification of COVID cases and help to curb the spread of the infection among the community.

He had urged States and UTs to continue and strengthen the surveillance and focus on genome sequencing for identifying new mutants/variants in the country.

He stated that the five-fold strategy of Test, Track, Treat, Vaccination and Adherence to Covid Appropriate Behavior (CAB) needs to be continued and monitored by States/UTs. (ANI)