New cases of coronavirus in India: There are more than 4.4 lakh of active cases in the country. (Figurative)
New Delhi:
Coronavirus cases in India increased by 45,209 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 90.95 lakh, government data showed today. There has been a slight drop in infections since Saturday when it recorded 46,232 cases. 501 deaths were reported in the last day, bringing the total deaths due to the fatal disease to more than 1.33 lakh. There are more than 4.4 lakh of active cases in the country and more than 85 lakh of patients have recovered from the highly contagious disease so far. More than 43,000 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours and a total of 10,75,326 tests have been performed in the last 24 hours. The total number of tests carried out so far amounts to 13.17 crore. The positivity rate is 4.2 percent, while the total recovery rate is 93.68 percent.
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Delhi, which has cases and deaths reaching record levels, recorded the highest number of cases in 24 hours with 5,879 cases. The capital also recorded 111 deaths in one day, the highest in the country in 24 hours. Infections in Delhi have also skyrocketed above the 5 lakh mark.
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Maharashtra remains the worst affected state in the country with more than 17.74 lakh of cases. There are more than 80,000 active cases in the state and in the last 24 hours Maharashtra recorded 5,760 cases. The total number of deaths in the state exceeds 46,000. The other states most affected are Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
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More than 400 ICU beds have been added to state and private hospitals across Delhi in the past five days to combat the surge in Covid cases, the government said on Saturday. The Arvind Kejriwal government, which has pledged a total of 1,400 new ICU beds to tackle this health crisis, said 206 beds were added today, 76 on Thursday, 100 on Wednesday and 29 on Tuesday.
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Authorities in Gurgaon and Faridabad in Haryana have begun random testing of people arriving in cities from Delhi, which is struggling with its worst phase of the COVID-19 pandemic so far. More than 400 people have been checked at the border and have found three positive cases. Previously, Noida had also started random checks.
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Led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has begun work on a COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan to ensure that it can “administer the vaccine at the earliest available opportunity” to its healthcare workers and elderly people amidst reports of some vaccines showing promising results. At a virtual G20 summit on Saturday, Prime Minister Modi said: “The coordinated efforts of the world’s largest economies will surely lead to a more rapid recovery from this pandemic.”
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Several pharmaceutical companies are involved in the development of a vaccine to combat COVID-19. Many are in advanced stages of trials and have reported more than 90 percent effectiveness. The third phase of human trials of Covaxin, India’s homemade vaccine, also began on Friday.
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Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla said Thursday that the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine should be available to healthcare workers and the elderly around February 2021 and in April to the general public, and will have a maximum price of Rs 1,000 for two doses for the public.
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Some cities in Rajasthan have imposed a nightly curfew amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in the state, the ANI news agency reported on Saturday. No one, except those who provide essential and emergency services, will be allowed to leave the state between 8 pm and 6 am. The Rajasthan government has imposed a night curfew on Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Bikaner, Udaipur, Ajmer, Alwar and Bhilwara.
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The coronavirus pandemic has killed at least 1,373,381 people worldwide since the outbreak emerged in China last December. At least 57,583,290 cases of coronavirus have been registered globally, of which at least 36,725,500 are now considered recovered.
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The United States is the most affected country with 254,424 deaths out of 11,913,945 cases. India is at No. 3 (with 1.33 lakh deaths) after Brazil with 168,613 deaths. Mexico and the United Kingdom follow India with 100,823 deaths and 54,286 deaths respectively.
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