India's COVID-19 count reaches 1,03,74,932

India has reported 18,088 new COVID-19 cases, 21,314 recoveries in the last 24 hours, taking the country's count to 1,03,74,932 cases, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) informed on Wednesday.

According to the Union Health Ministry, 264 deaths have been reported in the country in the last 24 hours. The total number of active cases stands at 2,27,546 while the total recoveries have reached 99,97,272. The death toll has mounted to 1,50,114.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that the total number of samples tested up to January 5 is 17,74,63,405 including 9,31,408 samples tested on Tuesday.

There are 50,223 active cases in Maharashtra. While Delhi reported 654 new coronavirus cases and 16 deaths in the last 24 hours, Kerala reported 6,394 new positive cases today.

With 289 new COVID-19 cases and three deaths in the last 24 hours, Andhra Pradesh's COVID-19 tally has climbed to 8,83,876. Tamil Nadu recorded 811 new cases and 11 deaths. The total cases in the state now stand at 8,23,181.

The Union Government has deployed a high-level central team headed by Dr S K Singh, Director, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to Kerala, to help the state combat the pandemic.

As per an official release, the team will reach the State on Friday. "The team will review the public health interventions in the management of COVID- 19 by the State Government of Kerala and support the State health authorities in these measures."

Ahead of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, a second dry run will take place on January 8 across all districts of the country, except in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Wednesday.

While Uttar Pradesh has already conducted the dry run in all districts on January 5, Haryana is scheduled to orgse the same on January 7.

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan will also meet Health Ministers of all the States/Union Territories (UTs) on Thursday to guide States/UTs on the conduct of dry run.

Each district will identify three types of session sites, similar to the previous dry run including a public health facility (District Hospital/Medical College), private health facility, and rural or urban outreach sites.

The Ministry said that around 1.7 lakh vaccinators and 3 lakh vaccination team members have been trained on the process to be followed at the vaccination sites which include beneficiary verification, vaccination, cold chain & logistics management, bio-medical waste management, AEFI management, and reporting on Co-WIN software.

( With inputs from ANI )