India on Monday recorded 2,09,918 new coronavirus cases, pushing the total number of infections in the country to 4,13,02,440 since the pandemic began in January 2020.

In the past 24 hours, 959 people died due to the virus, taking the official toll to 4,95,050. The toll includes 311 backlog deaths that Kerala added to its tally of fatalities on Sunday, data from the Union health ministry showed.

The number of new cases was 10.39% fewer than Sunday’s count of 2,34,281. However, the test positivity rate rose to 15.77% from 14.5% on Sunday. There were 18,31,268 active cases of Covid-19 in the country as on Monday morning.

As many as 1,66,03,96,227 Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in the country since the inoculation drive started in the country on January 16 last year. Of these, 28,90,986 doses were administered on Sunday.

(Source: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare)

Kerala continued to report an uptick in daily cases. On Sunday, Kerala recorded 51,570 new cases of Covid-19 and 14 deaths, the health department said. The state’s test positivity rate was 49.89%.

Meanwhile, Director General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said that the acute phase of Covid-19 could end this year if each country vaccinates 70% of its population against the disease.