India recorded 2,67,246 new cases and 4,529 new deaths on May 18. The country has so far reported 2,54,95,346 cases and 2,83,280 deaths.
Tamil Nadu reported 33,059 infections, followed by Kerala (31,337) and Karnataka (30,309). Maharashtra recorded 679 new casualties on the day, followed by Karnataka (525) and Tamil Nadu (364).
The data is sourced from the respective States’ health bulletins.
On May 17, India recorded 4,334 COVID-19 deaths, the highest single-day spike of fatalities since the beginning of the pandemic. With this, India surpassed Brazil’s tally of highest COVID-19-related deaths in a single day (4,249).
Around 18.69 lakh samples were tested on May 17 (the results for which were made available on May 18), which is around 2.96 lakh more tests than those conducted on May 16. The average daily test positivity rate (positive cases identified for every 100 tests) continues to decline. It was 22.7% on May 9 and came down to 17.6% as on May 17.
Around 15.1 lakh vaccine doses were administered in the 24 hours ending 7 a.m. on May 18, which is 8.19 lakh doses more than what was recorded in the previous 24 hours. However, it is 9.3 lakh doses less than what was recorded in the same period, one week ago. As on May 17, the average daily vaccination rate was 16.77 lakh which is significantly lesser than the average daily doses given as on April 17 which was 30.03 lakh.
