India recorded 13,451 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday morning, pushing the country’s infection tally since the beginning of the pandemic in January last year to 3,42,15,653. The new cases are 8.23% higher than Tuesday’s count of 12,428.

With 585 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the toll climbed to 4,55,653. India’s tally of active cases fell to 1,62,661. As many as 3,35,97,339 people have recovered from the infection in the country.

So far, India has administered 1,03,53,25,577 Covid-19 vaccine doses. On Tuesday, 55,89,124 shots were administered.

Meanwhile, the Centre has written to the West Bengal government, expressing concern about the rise in cases in the state following Durga Puja celebrations, reported PTI.

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In a letter, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan also said that Kolkata district has reported high number of average daily new cases. He noted that the cases increased from 217 infections in the week ending October 14 to 272 cases in the week ending October 21.

Bhushan advised the state to ensure strict adherence to Covid-appropriate behaviour and also focus on beneficiaries waiting for their second dose of vaccine.

State updates

  • Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian said the state would conduct the seventh Covid-19 mass vaccination programme through 50,000 camps across the state on Saturday, reported PTI. Subramanian said that in the last six vaccination programmes, the government had inoculated 1.33 crore people.
  • The World Health Organization’s technical advisory group sought “additional clarifications” from India’s Bharat Biotech to conduct a final risk-benefit assessment for an emergency use listing of Covaxin. The group will meet again on November 3 to consider the company’s request for an emergency listing if they receive data soon, the global health body’s chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said in a tweet.
  • The Maharashtra government has allowed citizens, irrespective of the nature of their jobs, to board suburban trains in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, reported PTI. The travellers needs to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus disease.

Global updates

  • The Chinese border city of Ejin Banner and Lanzhou in Gansu Province have been placed under a lockdown because of rising domestic Covid-19 cases.
  • The coronavirus has infected over 24.44 crore people in the world and caused more than 49.63 lakh deaths since the pandemic broke out in December 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University.