In the last 24 hours, India recorded 70,496 new cases of coronavirus (Covid-19) and 964 deaths, bringing the overall count and death toll to 6,906,151 and 106,490, respectively.
The country’s active cases, which have been below a million for 17 consecutive days, fell further below 900,000 on Friday, while more than 5.9 million people have recovered from the disease so far. The difference between active cases and recoveries has now risen to 5,012,477.
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Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat are some of the states that continue to be the hardest hit by the pandemic. Maharashtra’s Covid-19 count is approaching the 1.5 million mark and 39,430 people have succumbed to the infection.
Although fewer new cases have been recorded in Maharashtra in the past eight days, officials noted that Covid-19 tests are still below full capacity. Last month, the state government had set a goal of 150,000 tests per day, but only more than 77,000 tests per day have been conducted from October 1 to October 8.
Also read: China joins the COVAX coronavirus vaccine alliance
Nationwide, the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) tweeted on Friday that more than 80 million samples have been tested for Covid-19 so far, of which 1,194,321 samples were tested on Thursday.
Meanwhile, China, which was the epicenter of Covid-19 and has faced global criticism for its initial handling of the pandemic, has joined the WHO-backed vaccine initiative called COVAX, which aims to give nations more poor people the same access to vaccines as richer nations. Details of China’s commitment to the initiative, which also includes the amount of funding, were reportedly not immediately disclosed.
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