India’s active coronavirus infection tally continued to decline with the country running the world’s largest vaccination drive.
India reported 14,256 new cases in the last 24 hours, according to the health ministry’s data as of 8 a.m. That’s lower than the 17,130 patients who recovered from the virus in the same time period, taking active cases 1.85 lakh. India had over 10 lakh live infections in mid-September.
Almost a year has passed since India detected the first case of Covid-19 in Kerala. The virus since has infected over 1.06 crore people with 1.03 crore having recovered. Over 1.53 lakh have succumbed to it.
The country is now running an inoculation drive for its frontline workers with two vaccine candidates—from U.K.’s Oxford-AstraZeneca manufactured by Serum Institute of India Ltd. as Covidshield and locally developed Bharat Biotech International Ltd.’s Covaxin—having received emergency approval. India is also shipping out vaccines to neighbouring countries Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Maldives and Seychelles while Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Mauritius are awaiting clearance.
Key Figures
Total number of confirmed coronavirus cases: 1,06,39,684
Active cases: 1,85,662
Cured/discharged/migrated: 1,03,00,838
Deaths: 1,53,184
Number of fresh cases in the last 24 hours: 14,256
One-day recoveries: 17,130
One-day deaths: 152
Global Update
Globally, cases crossed 9.8 crore with deaths passing 21 lakh as of Saturday morning.
The U.K.’s new more contagious strain of coronavirus may be linked to higher mortality, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
Hong Kong is locking down thousands of residents for the first time over the weekend in a bid to contain a worsening outbreak. In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state would on Friday run out of all the vaccines that had been delivered.
Track all developments around the Covid-19 outbreak in India here.