India on Monday registered 3,66,161 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, pushing the tally of infections in the country to 2,26,62,575 since the pandemic broke out in January last year. The overall infection count dropped below the 4-lakh mark after four consecutive days.
With 3,754 deaths, the toll climbed to 2,46,116. There are 37,45,237 active cases and 1,86,71,222 patients have recovered from the infection so far.
India has also administered 17,01,76,603 coronavirus doses, giving 6,89,652 shots on Sunday alone.
Meanwhile, the Centre said that it has so far provided 17,93,57,860 vaccine doses to states and Union Territories free of cost. Of this, the government said, that the total consumption, including wastages, was 16,89,27,797 doses, according to data available at 8 am.
The Union government claimed that 1,04,30,063 shots were still available with the states and Union Territories. It added that 9,24,910 vaccine doses will be provided in addition within the next three days.
The Centre’s statement came in response to various states complaining about vaccine shortages that has caused a delay in the third phase of the vaccination drive, which covers all citizens between 18 and 44 years.
The government also dismissed reports claiming that it had approved Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for children above the age of 12.
On Sunday, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia criticised the Centre for exporting Covid-19 vaccines, saying that a large number of lives could have been saved if the shots had been given to people in the country first.
Meanwhile, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said the Centre had so far provided 17.56 crore vaccine doses to the states free of cost. In a series of tweets, Thakur responded to Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge’s six suggestions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on handling the coronavirus crisis.
The union minister also said that many as 1.5 lakh doses of the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V had reached India.
In view of the rapidly surging coronavirus cases, various administrations have extended statewide lockdown to rein in the infection.
On Sunday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that his administration had decided to extend the lockdown in the Capital till May 17. The chief minister also announced that the Delhi Metro will stop operations from Monday. Similarly, Uttar Pradesh extended the partial curbs in the state till 7 am on May 17 amid a surge in daily infections. Jammu and Kashmir too extended lockdown in all 20 districts till May 17.
Globally, the coronavirus has now infected 15.79 crore people and killed over 32.88 lakh since the pandemic broke out in December 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University. Over 9.39 crore people have recovered from the infection.
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