India’s daily Covid death count hit a new grim record with 4,205 deaths in the last 24 hours; 3,48,421 fresh cases have been added to the active caseload amid the battle against the second wave, which has raised global concern.
Nearly 30 lakh infections have been recorded by the county since May 5. India’s total death count passed the 2.5 lakh-mark this morning, the Health Ministry data showed. The fresh surge takes active caseload to 37,04,099; overall case count rose to 2.33 crore. The positivity rate stood at 17.56 per cent.
Nearly 30 lakh infections have been recorded by the county since May 5. India’s total death count passed the 2.5 lakh-mark this morning, the Health Ministry data showed. The fresh surge takes active caseload to 37,04,099; overall case count rose to 2.33 crore. The positivity rate stood at 17.56 per cent.
Even as experts have stressed stepping up vaccination drive to fight the surge in cases, states have been scrambling to arrange enough doses. Delhi and a bunch of southern Indian states are considering taking the global-tender route. Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Odisha have already chosen this option.
Hit hard by the second wave, nearly 90 per cent of the country is witnessing a high Covid positivity rate, the government said on Tuesday, stressing that 640 districts out of the 734 are above the national threshold level of 5 per cent positivity rate.
A variant of Covid-19 – B.1.617 – that has been linked to the explosion in cases in India has been found in 44 countries, the World Health Organization has said, days after labelling it as “a variant of concern”. The variant was first found in India in October.
Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin has been recommended for the next phase of trials by an expert panel for the 2-18 age group, news agency PTI has reported, citing sources.
WHO has warned against the use of ‘ivermectin’ – an orally-administered drug used to treat parasitic infections – for treatment of COVID-19 patients. Earlier this week, Goa approved the use of ‘ivermectin’ as a preventive treatment for all adults against the SARS-CoV2 virus that causes the COVID-19 disease.
This is the second consecutive day when daily infections have dropped below the 3.5 lakh mark in India. Worldwide, 15.96 crore infections have been reported since the pandemic broke.
