India records 19,556 new COVID-19 cases, lowest in six months

India recorded 19,556 new cases of the novel coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the home ministry said in its latest update on Tuesday morning. It is nearly after six months that the daily number of coronavirus cases recorded below 20,000.

The total number of Covid-19 positive cases in India now stands at 1,00,75,116, while active cases tally is at 2,92,518.

With 301 more deaths, the Covid-19 toll in the country rose to 1,46,111.

The country also reported 30,376 recoveries in the last 24 hours, taking the total recovered cases to 96,36,487.

According to Indian Council of Medical Research, a total of 16,31,70,557 samples tested for COVID-19 up to December 21. Of these, 10,72,228 samples were tested on December 22.

Meanwhile, the new strain of coronavirus in the United Kingdom has triggered panic across the world. In a bid to block the new mutant of the coronavirus from spreading, the Indian government has announced that all the flights from the UK will be suspended from Tuesday till December 31.

All the passengers arriving in India till Tuesday (December 22) will have to get themselves tested.

Meanwhile, countries across the globe shut their borders to Britain on December 21 due to fears about a highly infectious new coronavirus strain, causing travel chaos and raising the prospect of food shortages days before Britain is set to leave the European Union.

India, Pakistan, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Russia, Jordan, France, Hong Kong and other countries suspended travel for Britons after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said a mutated variant of the virus had been identified in the country.