India recorded 22,065 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the lowest one-day figure in over five months (since July 7), taking the total Covid caseload to over 99.06 lakh. The number of fresh infections is over 18% per cent lower than that of yesterday. 

354 deaths in the last 24 hours have pushed the total death count to 1,43,709. 

Over 94.22 lakh people in the country have recovered since the beginning of the pandemic. 

India, which reported its first case on January 30, is the second worst-hit country in the world by the pandemic after the United States.

The number of active cases stands at 3,39,820 according to the data from the Union Health Ministry. 

Maharashtra, India's worst COVID-19-affected state, added 2,949 new cases, with the total number of infected people crossing 18.83 lakh. The state also reported 60 deaths, which took the fatality count to 48,269. 

Maharashtra is followed by four southern states in terms of the Covid case count - Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. 

Delhi recorded 1,376 new cases and 60 deaths on Monday, taking the fatality count in the capital to 10,074. 

Doctors at a leading private facility in Delhi have found multiple cases in recovering coronavirus patients, who were diagnosed with a deadly fungal infection "triggered by COVID-19", due to which nearly half of them lost their eyesight, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital authorities claimed. 

Rajasthan recorded 13 more deaths due to the novel coronavirus on Monday, taking the death count to 2,555 in the state.

Vaccinating 100 to 200 people in each session per day, monitoring them for 30 minutes after administering the shots for any adverse event and allowing only one beneficiary at a time are among the guidelines issued by the centre for the COVID-19 inoculation drive. 

The UK Health Secretary on Monday said a more than 1,000 cases of the "new variant" of coronavirus had been identified, mainly in southeastern England. "We do not know the extent to which this is because of the new variant, but no matter its cause, we have to take swift and decisive action," Matt Hancock said. 

The US kicked off a mass vaccination drive on Monda, with a New York nurse becoming the first person in the country to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech shot.
 
Canada too began Covid vaccinations on Monday, with an Ontario caregiver and an octogenarian in Quebec becoming the first people vaccinated against Covid in the country. Canada, the third country to approve the Pfizer vaccine after the United Kingdom and Bahrain, is expected to receive up to 2,49,000 doses by the end of the month.  

Global coronavirus infections have soared past 7.28 crore, with the US remaining the country hit hardest by far by the health crisis gripping the world, with over three lakh deaths.

BDST: 1258 HRS, DEC 15, 2020
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