India reported 60,753 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, taking the total count of infections since the outbreak of the pandemic in January 2020 to 2,98,23,546. The country’s toll rose to 3,85,137 as it recorded 1,647 deaths in the last day.
India’s count of active cases reduced to 7,60,019 – the lowest after 74 days, according to the Union health ministry. Active cases now comprise 2.55% of the total infections. The number of recoveries reached 2,86,78,390.
As of Saturday morning, India’s daily Covid-19 positivity rate stood at 2.98%. “It has remained less than 5% for 12 consecutive days now,” the health ministry said. India’s weekly positivity rate was 3.58%.
Experts have warned the government against letting its guard down as cases reduce. On Saturday, All India Institute of Medical Sciences Director Dr Randeep Guleria said that with the lack of Covid-appropriate behaviour after the easing of restrictions across India, an “inevitable” third wave of infections could hit the country in the next six to eight weeks.
Meanwhile, the Centre wrote a letter to the states, directing them to ensure that there is no complacency in testing, vaccination and following Covid-related norms, ANI reported.
“With the decline in the number of active cases, many states and UT [Union territories] have started relaxing restrictions,” Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said the letter. “I would like to highlight that the decision to impose or ease the restriction has to be taken, based on the assessment of the situation at ground level. While the opening up of activities, after a decline in cases is essential, the states and UTs must ensure that the whole process is carefully calibrated.”
Also read: Delta variant becoming globally dominant, says WHO chief scientist
The health ministry’s data on Saturday morning showed that 27,23,88,783 Covid vaccine doses had been administered in the country since the beginning of the inoculation drive on January 16. Of these, 33,00,085 vaccine doses were administered on Friday.
The Maharashtra government began a special Covid-19 vaccination drive for those in the 30 to 45 age group from Saturday.
An unidentified official from the Maharashtra health department said that beneficiaries in the 30 to 45 age group were a huge part of the working population, and vaccinating them would help ease restrictions on business activities.
Meanwhile, the Delta variant of Covid-19, first detected in India, has caused some concern globally. World Health Organization Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan on Friday said that the variant was becoming the globally dominant variant because of its significantly increased transmissibility.
There are more than 17.78 crore cases of the coronavirus disease across the world, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 38 lakh people have died due to the infection.
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