India added less than 12,000 fresh Covid-19 cases in a day at a time the government is struggling to convince people that the vaccines are safe.
The country reported 11,666 new cases in the last 24 hours, according to the health ministry’s data as of 8 a.m. on Thursday. That’s lower than the 14,301 patients who recovered from the virus in the same time period, taking active cases below 1.74 lakh. India had over 10 lakh live infections in mid-September.
Meanwhile, over 23.5 lakh health workers have been vaccinated under the world’s largest inoculation drive which began on Jan. 16. Of this, 3.26 lakh vaccine shots were administered on Wednesday.
Addressing a press conference, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that India administered 1 million Covid-19 vaccinations in six days, making it the fastest country to reach the milestone. The U.S. took 10 days, Spain 12, Israel 14, the U.K. 18, Italy 19, Germany 20 and UAE 27 days to achieve the goal.
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; 1.03 crore recovered (96.94%), while more than 1.53 lakh (1.44%) have succumbed to it.
Key Figures
- Total number of confirmed coronavirus cases: 1,07,01,193
- Active cases: 1,73,740
- Cured/discharged/migrated: 1,03,73,606
- Deaths: 1,53,847
- Number of fresh cases in the last 24 hours: 11,666
- One-day recoveries: 14,301
- One-day deaths: 123
Global Update
The coronavirus variant identified in South Africa has reached the U.S. with two cases diagnosed in South Carolina, the state reported. A new vaccine from Novavax Inc. was effective in big trials in both the U.K. and South Africa, but the effectiveness appeared to be reduced in South Africa where the mutation is prevalent.
Germany cast doubt on the effectiveness of AstraZeneca Plc’s shot for the elderly. The European Union is poised to tighten rules on the export of vaccines, risking a major escalation in the global battle to secure access to the life-saving shots.
Globally, over 101 million people have contracted the virus so far with more than 2.1 million dead.