India has reported more than 3.22 crore COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic in December 2019 (File)
New Delhi:
In the past 24 hours, 35,178 new cases of COVID-19 and 440 deaths have been reported, the government said this morning. The daily new cases are up nearly 40 percent from the 25,166 reported Tuesday — the lowest single-day increase in 154 days.
Here are the top 10 points:
Active cases have fallen to 3,67,415 – the lowest in 148 days – and are 1.14 percent of the total number of cases. 37,169 people were discharged from treatment in the past 24 hours, with a cumulative recovery of about 3.15 crore. The recovery rate is 97.52 percent – the highest since March last year.
The weekly positivity rate — the percentage of Covid tests that yield positive results — is 1.95 percent. It has been below the three percent hazard threshold for the past 54 days. The daily rate is 1.96 percent and has been below three percent for 23 days
About 55 lakh vaccine doses have been administered in the last 24 hours, with a total dose of 56.1 crore. The seven-day average of vaccine doses has risen to over 43 lakh – the highest since late June when it was around 45 lakh doses.
At the current rate, however, only 36 percent of India’s adult population will be fully vaccinated by the end of the year, as opposed to the government’s plan for vaccination of at least 60 percent. The required daily vaccination coverage is now over 100 lakh doses while the actual average over the past seven days is around 55 lakh.
Kerala remains India’s new COVID-19 epicenter, with more than 21,000 new cases within 24 hours. This is a significant increase from the 12,294 reported Monday. The active caseload in the southern state has risen to over 1.75 lakh.
Tamil Nadu officials report ‘vaccine apathy’, after a drastic drop from about 36,000 cases a day in May to less than 2,000 today. More than 4 lakh doses were administered on Monday, but the daily average over the past week is 2.23 lakh. Only 37 percent of the population has had one dose and about 8.2 percent both.
Delhi reported 38 new cases and four fatalities, and the positivity rate was 0.07 percent (unchanged from a day earlier), according to a health ministry bulletin released Tuesday. The national capital reported 27 cases of COVID-19 and zero deaths on Monday.
Curfew times have been relaxed and inter-district passenger traffic is allowed in Assam (except to and from Kamrup Metropolitan district), according to the revised SOP, the state said Tuesday. Assam reported 741 new cases and 11 deaths in the past 24 hours.
On Monday, the center imposed restrictions on the export of rapid antigen testing kits amid expert warnings of a possible third wave. Exporters must apply for a license or permission from the DGFT to ship items under the restricted category. Such restrictions are intended to increase the domestic availability of the kits.
New Zealand has embarked on a strict nationwide lockdown as it faces an outbreak of the ‘delta’ variant, which was linked to the worsening crisis in neighboring Australia on Wednesday; cases in New South Wales rose to a record high of over 600.
With input from Bloomberg
