NEW DELHI — India on Monday reported 70,421 new COVID-19 infections over the past 24 hours, the lowest since March 31, data from the Health Ministry showed. The South Asian country's total COVID-19 caseload now stands at 29.51 million, while total fatalities are at 374,305, the data showed. India added 3,921 deaths overnight.

More than 175.76 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 3,954,147 have died, according to a Reuters tally on Monday. Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.

India continues to report a sustained slide in the daily new COVID cases. The country’s daily new cases tally in the last 24 hours is less than 100,000 daily cases. It has been below 100,000 cases for 7 continuous days now.

The country’s active caseload has declined below 10 lakh mark after 66 days. A net decline of 53,001 is witnessed in the last 24 hours and active cases are sliding.

India’s daily recoveries continue to outnumber daily new cases for 32 consecutive days now and 1,19,501 recoveries were registered in last 24 hours.

Out of people infected since beginning of pandemic, 2,81,62,947 people have already recovered from COVID-19 & 1,19,501 patients have recovered in last 24 hours. This constitutes an overall recovery rate of 95.43%, which is showing a sustained increasing trend.

Weekly Positivity Rate is currently at 4.54% while the Daily Positivity rate stands at 4.72% Monday. It has remained less than 10% for 21 consecutive days now.

Meanwhile, the Delhi government has set up vaccine center for people traveling abroad for work, studies. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday inaugurated a special COVID-19 vaccination center at a city school for students, athletes and people who have to travel abroad for work.

People who come under the above categories will be able to get their second vaccine dose at the camp under special provisions after a gap of 28-84 days from the date of their first shot, Sisodia said. The center has been set up at the Navyug School situated on Mandir Marg.

Sisodia said the purpose of the special vaccination center was to "wish good luck" to those who would be traveling abroad under the specified categories.

"These days, our children are going abroad for further studies, or have attained jobs outside the country or are participating in international sports events. We have opened this special vaccination center for all these citizens who are leaving for abroad and need to be vaccinated at the earliest, without any hassle," he said at the inauguration. The minister said Covishield vaccine would be administered at this centre.

As COVID-induced lockdown curbs ease, traffic jams return in Bengaluru. The notorious traffic snarls returned to haunt Bengaluru as the lockdown curbs imposed more than a month ago to contain COVID-19 were eased on Monday. Hundreds of vehicles coming from the neighboring Hosur in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu were seen stuck in long queues at Attibele in Bengaluru.

The Haryana government has extended the statewide COVID-19 lockdown by a week, till June 21, allowing a few relaxations amid a dip in the daily cases. Doing away with the odd-even formula, the state government allowed all shops to open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., an official order said.

In another development, the office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the government on Sunday said “'Project O2 for India” has been initiated to ensure supply of critical raw materials such as zeolites, setting up of small oxygen plants, and manufacturing of compressors. The second wave of COVID-19 saw an increase in demand for medical oxygen in different parts of the country.

Meanwhile, Bikaner in Rajasthan is set to become the first city in the country to launch a door-to-door COVID vaccination drive. The exercise, scheduled to start today, will be for people in the 45+ age group. While the vaccine van will go from one address to the next after administering the shot, a medical team will stay with the person for observation. — Agencies