India on Monday recorded 40,134 new coronavirus cases, taking the tally of infections to 3,16,95,958 since the pandemic broke out in January last year. This is 4.05% lower than Sunday’s count of 41,831 cases.
With 422 deaths, India’s toll rose to 4,24,773. The number of active cases went up by 2,766 to 4,13,718. A total of 3,08,57,467 patients have recovered from the disease.
Schools in Punjab reopened for all classes after a year on Monday, with Covid-19 protocols in place.
Kerala registered 20,000 new infections for the sixth consecutive day on Sunday. With 20,728 cases, the state’s total count of cases rose to 34,11,489. Its toll increased by 56 to 16,837. The state’s test positivity rate, which is the percentage of people who test positive for the virus out of those who have been tested overall, stood at 12.14%.
Tamil Nadu made it mandatory for travelers from Kerala to carry a negative RT-PCR test from August 5.
Global updates
Globally, Covid-19 has infected 19.82 crore people and caused more than 42 lakh deaths since the pandemic broke out in December 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The World Health Organization on Sunday raised alarm about the Delta variant of Covid-19. “It’s a warning that the virus is evolving but it is also a call to action that we need to move now before more dangerous variants emerge,” the global health agency’s Emergencies Director Michael Ryan said.
Meanwhile, United States’ top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci warned that things were going to get worse as the Delta variant had been been found in more than 130 countries since it was first detected in India. Fauci ruled out lockdowns, despite number of hospitalised patients in many states is surging.
“I think we have enough of the percentage of people in the country – not enough to crush the outbreak – but I believe enough to not allow us to get into the situation we were in last winter. But things are going to get worse,” Fauci told ABC News.
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