India’s coronavirus case count on Saturday rose to 78,14,682 after 53,370 new infections were reported in 24 hours. The country’s toll went up by 650 to 1,17,956. There are 6,80,680 active cases, and 70,16,046 recoveries in the country.
In an update this morning, the Union health ministry said that 10 states and Union Territories are contributing 81% of the high number of daily Recoveries (nearly 74,000).
The health ministry added that Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala account for more than 48% of the active cases in the country. They also make up for half of the new discharged patients.
Delhi reported 4,086 new coronavirus cases on Friday. This was the biggest single day rise for the Capital in over a month.
Meanwhile, a second serological survey in Chennai found that one-third of the city’s population has been exposed to the coronavirus and has thus developed antibodies for the infection. Out of 6,389 samples tested in the second sero survey, 2,062 were positive for Covid-19 antibodies, showing an overall positivity rate of 32.3% in the city, according to the Greater Chennai Corporation.
India has so far tested 10,13,82,564 samples for Covid-19, the Indian Council of Medical Research announced. As many as 12,69,479 samples were tested on Friday alone.
The World Health Organization warned that the world was now at a critical juncture in the coronavirus crisis, Reuters reported. The global health body added that some countries were on a dangerous path and could possibly witness the collapse of public health infrastructure.
“The next few months are going to be very tough and some countries are on a dangerous track,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was quoted as saying by the news agency. “We urge leaders to take immediate action, to prevent further unnecessary deaths, essential health services from collapsing and schools shutting again.”
Globally, the coronavirus has infected more than 4.21 crore people and killed 11,43,467, according to the Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide recoveries crossed 2.84 crore.
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