India on Saturday morning recorded 19,740 new coronavirus cases, taking the infection tally in the country to 3,39,35,309 since the pandemic broke out in January last year. Saturday’s infection count is 7% less than Friday’s tally of 21,257.

The toll climbed to 4,50,375 after 248 people died in the last 24 hours. The number of active cases fell to 2,36,643, and the recovery tally rose to 3,32,48,291.

India has so far administered 93,99,15,323 vaccine doses. Of these, 79,12,202 were administered on Thursday alone.

Source: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

India updates

  • Delhi on Friday recorded zero Covid-19 deaths and 39 news cases, according to NDTV. Meanwhile, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority said that teachers who have not received even a single dose of the Covid-19 vaccine would not be allowed at schools from October 16.
  • The Kerala government on Friday said it will add 7,000 more deaths to its Covid-19 toll. This will take the coronavirus fatality count in the state to 33,072 as of Saturday. The move came amid allegations from the Opposition that the Kerala government was underreporting deaths to keep the state’s mortality rate low.
  • Indian drug manufacturers Aurobindo Pharma Ltd and MSN Laboratories on Friday requested permission to end late-stage trials of their oral antiviral drug meant to treat moderate Covid-19, PTI reported. The oral drug is a version of Merck & Co’s promising experimental oral antiviral drug molnupiravir. Merck & Co also suspended the development of molnupiravir after some patients who were being administered the drug had reached the final stage of Covid-19.

Global updates

  • Russia’s state coronavirus task force on Friday reported 936 fresh deaths on Friday, the highest since the start of the pandemic in January, AP reported. The deaths crossed the 900-mark for the third day.
  • Italy on Friday decided to provide a booster shot of Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine to individuals with compromised health regardless of their age and citizens aged 60 and above, Reuters reported.
  • The coronavirus has infected over 23.72 crore people and caused over 48.42 lakh deaths since the pandemic broke out in December 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University.