Coronavirus: The number of active cases in India has plummeted to less than 3 lakh after 5.5 months.
New Delhi:
India recorded 23,950 new coronavirus cases and 333 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, government data shows. The number of daily cases was 22 percent higher than yesterday when the country added fewer than 20,000 cases, 19,556, for the first time since July 2. With this, the country’s coronavirus case count has crossed 1 crore and 99 thousand with 1.46 lakh deaths.
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Up to 26,895 people recovered from the highly infectious disease, bringing the total number of active cases to its lowest level in 5.5 months, 2.89 lakh, with a recovery rate of more than 95%.
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Kerala (60.49), Maharashtra (3,106), Chhattisgarh (1,380), West Bengal (1,653) and Uttar Pradesh (1,211) had the highest daily infections in the country. The highest deaths in the last day were recorded in Kerala, Delhi, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Punjab.
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At a time when India is witnessing a decline in its active coronavirus cases, a new mutation of the COVID-19 virus strain in the UK has become a “super-propagator” with a transmissibility rate increased by 70%. . “The new strain does not offer any change in clinical severity or mortality,” said Dr Chaand Nagpaul, Chairman of the Council of the British Medical Association.
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This strain of coronavirus has not been found in India so far, NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr VK Paul said Tuesday.
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The mutant strain, B.1.1.7, has at least 17 changes in its viral genetic load and was detected in south-east England in September. It has already been seen in Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia.
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India, among several nations that have temporarily banned flights to and from the UK, issued guidelines for arriving passengers from the country, including mandatory RT-PCR testing on arrival, genome sequencing for those with new strain, 14-day travel history statement for all international passengers. States have also been ordered to provide a list of returnees.
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A total of 358 passengers had arrived in Telangana, while “this number could be as high as 6,000-7,000” for Delhi, from where many go to other neighboring states.
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Experts have emphasized that measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus remain the same: These include maintaining social distance, wearing face masks and washing hands regularly.
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Vaccine manufacturers have added that the injections should work against the new strain as 99 percent of the protein remains the same. “However, the BioNTech co-founder said he could also tailor the vaccine if necessary within six weeks. .
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The new strain of the virus has also overshadowed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s visit to India as the main guest at the Republic Day parade in Delhi next month.
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