India reports over 43,000 new COVID cases, 911 deaths

India recorded 43,393 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours and 911 deaths, said the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on Friday.

Friday is the 31st consecutive day when India reported less than one lakh new coronavirus cases.

The active cases have now come down below 5 lakh. The country has 4,58,727 active cases presently and has witnessed a total of 4,05,939 deaths so far.

According to the Union Health Ministry, a total of 44,459 people have been discharged in the last 24 hours, taking the total discharge to 2,98,88,284 till date.

The Ministry said that a total of 36,89,91,222 people have been vaccinated so far in the country, including 40,23,173 who were administered vaccines in the last 24 hours.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, 42,70,16,605 samples have been tested up to July 8 for Covid-19. Of these 17,90,708 samples were tested on Thursday.

On July 6, India recorded 553 deaths -- lowest since April 6. This was after on May 23, India saw record fatalities with 4,454 deaths in 24 hours at the peak of the second wave.

The first death in the country due to the pandemic was reported last March