India on Monday registered 83,876 new coronavirus cases, taking the overall infection count to 4,22,72,014 since the pandemic began in January 2020. The number of new cases was 21.95% fewer than Sunday’s count 1,07,474 Covid-19 cases.

The last time India recorded less than 1 lakh cases was on January 6, reported NDTV.

With 895 deaths, the toll climbed to 5,02,874 on Monday. This includes 378 backlog deaths that Kerala added to its toll on Sunday.

The daily positivity rate dropped marginally to 7.25% from Sunday’s 7.98%. There are currently 11,08,938 active cases and 4,06,60,202 patients have recovered from the infection so far.

Source: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

As many as 1,69,63,80,755 vaccine doses have been administered in the country till now. Of this, 14,70,053 shots were administered in the past 24 hours.

Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Sunday said that the Drugs Controller General of India has given emergency use regulatory approval to Russia’s one-shot Sputnik Light coronavirus vaccine.

“This is the ninth Covid-19 vaccine in the country,” he said. “This will further strengthen the nation’s collective fight against the pandemic.”

Schools reopen

Meanwhile, schools in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Odisha and Bihar reopened for Classes 9 to 12 from Monday as daily coronavirus cases dropped, reported NDTV.

In Delhi, classes for nursery to standard 8 will resume on February 14.

Experts had raised concerns about the learning gap that has occurred due to prolonged school closures because of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns.