Covid cases in India saw a near 30 per cent jump on a daily basis with the country reporting 17,336 fresh infections on Friday. The total Covid cases now stand at 4,33,62,294, according to the data released by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Active cases increased to 88,284 in the country, an increase of 4,294 in the last 24 hours. India also reported 13 new Covid related deaths which included seven reconciliation from Kerala, and one new death from Chhatisgarh, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka each; and two deaths from Punjab.

Amongst the worst affected states, Delhi and Kerala saw the highest increase in active cases (of over 700 cases in each of the two States) on a 24 hour basis, followed by West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Maharashtra. Three States — Uttarakhand, Meghalaya and Mizoram — saw a drop in active cases on a day-to-day basis.

Active cases account for 0.19 per cent of total infections. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 4.32 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 3.07 per cent, the Ministry said. The national Covid-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.59 per cent.