Coronavirus cases in India: More than 55,000 Covid-related deaths have been recorded to date.
New Delhi:
India recorded its biggest single-day increase in coronavirus cases with 69,878 new patients registered in the past 24 hours, the Union’s health ministry said this morning. The latest peak brings India’s total to 29.75,701 cases. About 22.22 lakh people have recovered so far. Across India, 55,794 Covid-related deaths have been recorded to date; 945 patients have died since yesterday, according to official data. The recovery rate stood at 74.69% this morning. The country tested the largest number of samples on Friday – 10.23,836.
Here are the top 10 developments on coronavirus cases in India:
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India, the third country most affected by the pandemic after the United States and Brazil, has reported the highest number of daily Covid cases in the world in the past 18 days. The United States has recorded more than 56 lakh cases so far, and Brazil has recorded more than 35 lakh cases, about six lakh more than India.
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Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh are the five states most affected in India by the epidemic.
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Several states are announcing new restrictions amid a spike in cases. Haryana announced the weekend lockdown on Friday and said all offices and stores would remain closed on weekends except for stores selling essentials.
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The Punjab has ordered a daily nighttime curfew – from 7:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m., starting Friday – and weekend lockdowns in the state’s 167 towns and villages, as part of a response strict to the worrying surge in coronavirus cases.
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On Friday, the Election Commission announced guidelines for conducting polls in the midst of a pandemic. Door-to-door campaigns with just five people and gloves for voters before pushing the button on electronic voting machines are part of the rules that are part of the guidelines.
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India tested the highest number of samples on Friday – 10.23,836. About 3.4 crore samples have been tested so far; a sample can be tested more than once. The positivity rate – an indicator of the prevalence of the disease – was 6.82% this morning.
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The World Health Organization said on Friday it hopes the planet will be rid of the coronavirus pandemic in less than two years – faster than the Spanish flu. “We hope to end this pandemic before less than two years,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at WHO headquarters in Geneva, insisting that it should be possible to tame the new coronavirus faster than the pandemic fatal death of 1918, AFO news agency reported.
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Maharashtra Interior Minister Anil Deshmukh urged people to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi (Ganeshotsav), which started today, in a low-key way and to avoid overcrowding due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Worldwide, around 2.29 million people have contracted the virus so far; about 7.98 lakh died.
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Russia’s plan to roll out its COVID-19 “Sputnik-V” vaccine even before full trials show how well it works raises concern from virus experts, who warn that a partially effective vaccine could encourage the new coronavirus to mutate, Reurters news agency reported.
