Covid update: India’s active tally goes up after nearly two months, recoveries lower than new cases – Mint

The number stood at 43,733 the day before. With the addition of new infections, the cumulative caseload in the country has reached 3,07,09,557.

Further, the daily fatalities went up by 817, taking the death toll due to coronavirus in India to 4,050,28.

This comes as the global death toll went past 4 million on Wednesday, according to news agency AP. With the advent of the vaccine, deaths per day have plummeted to around 7,900, after topping out at over 18,000 a day in January.

But in recent weeks, the mutant delta version of the virus first identified in India has set off alarms around the world.

On the other hand, India has clocked in lesser recoveries than new cases after a 55-day rally. As many as 44,291 more people have recuperated from the disease, taking the total number of discharges to 2,98,43,825.

This is also the first time in nearly two months that the active tally in the country has gone up. There are 4,60,704 active cases currently, increasing by 784 between Wednesday and Thursday.

Tests conducted so far

India has tested 42,52,25,897 samples for Covid-19 until now, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Out of these, 18,93,800 samples were tested on Wednesday, as compared to 19,07,216 tests conducted in the previous 24-hour period.

Vaccination in India

The country has so far administered 36,48,47,549 anti-Covid jabs. Among these, 33,81,671 doses were given in the last 24 hours.

Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra have administered more than 50 lakh first dose of Covid-19 vaccine in the 18-44 years age group.

Variant of concern

The surge in cases comes amid “Variants of Concern” being reported in 174 districts of 35 states and union territories.

Maharashtra, Delhi, Punjab, Telangana, West Bengal and Gujarat have seen the highest number of these cases.

Further, the Centre on Wednesday noted that there is a need to strengthen the collective efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus in nine states — Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Kerala, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Tripura and Sikkim.

In a letter, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said ramping up testing and vaccination, healthcare infrastructure planning, following Covid-appropriate behaviour and effective clinical management are among the measures to be taken by these states.

Lambda variant

India has not recorded any Covid-19 infection due to the Lambda variant of the virus until now, reported news agency ANI quoting sources.

The new strain has been detected in more than 30 countries in the past four weeks.

“The Lambda strain was reported to have originated from Peru, the country with the highest mortality rate in the world,” said the UK’s health ministry earlier this week.

The variant accounts for nearly 82% of the coronavirus cases reported during May and June in Peru.