India on Tuesday morning recorded 18,346 new coronavirus cases, pushing the infection tally in the country to 3,38,53,048 since the pandemic broke out in January last year.

This is lowest daily infection count in 209 days, according to the the Union health ministry. Tuesday’s case tally is also 11.7% less than Monday’s count of 20,799.

The toll climbed to 4,49,260 after 263 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours. The active cases tally fell to 2,52,902 and the number of recoveries climbed to 3,31,50,886.

So far, India has administered 91,54,65,826 coronavirus vaccine doses. Of these, 72,51,419 were administered on Monday.

(Ministry of Health and Family Welfare)

State updates

  • The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition seeking an inquiry into shortage of oxygen supply during the second wave of the coronavirus in April-May and rebuked the petitioner for filing the application. “It is very easy to criticise the court or government without being on the hot seat,” said Justice DY Chandrachud.
  • Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that India has administered the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine to 70% of the adult population. “Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji, India is achieving new landmarks in the fight against the pandemic,” he tweeted.
  • The Kerala High Court quashed the state government’s order to reduce charges of RT-PCR tests in private laboratories from Rs 1,700 to Rs 500, reported NDTV. The High Court observed that accuracy of the tests cannot be diluted at any rate.
  • The Supreme Court said that state governments should not deny ex-gratia compensation to the families of those who died of the coronavirus merely if the death certificate does not mention the disease as the cause of the fatality.

Global updates

  • Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern admitted that New Zealand’s “Covid zero” strategy has failed to stop an outbreak in Auckland and said a new approach was needed, reported AFP. Ardern said the the Delta variant has proven to be a “game-changer”.
  • Globally, the coronavirus has infected over 23.53 crore people and caused more than 48.08 lakh deaths since the pandemic broke out in December 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University.