4,205 Covid Deaths In India, Highest In 24 Hours; 3.48 Lakh Fresh Cases

1. Nearly 30 lakh infections have been recorded by the country since May 5. India’s total death count passed the 2.5 lakh-mark this morning, Health Ministry data showed. The fresh surge takes active cases to 37,04,099; overall cases rose to 2.33 crore. The positivity rate stood at 17.56 per cent.

2. In the last 24 hours, 19,83,804 samples were tested, the most in a day since the pandemic broke. Per government data, 24,46,674 vaccine doses were administered in a new record since India began the world’s largest vaccine drive on January 16.

3. Even as experts stress stepping up vaccinations to fight the surge in cases, states have been scrambling to arrange doses. Delhi and some southern Indian states are considering the global-tender route. Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha have already chosen this option.

4. Hit hard by the second wave, nearly 90 per cent of the country is witnessing a high positivity rate, the government said on Tuesday, stressing that 640 districts out of the 734 are above the national threshold level of five per cent.

5. A variant of the virus – B.1.617 – that has been linked to the explosion in cases in India has been found in 44 countries, the World Health Organization has said, days after labelling it as “a variant of concern”. The variant was first found in India in October.

6. Shocking images have emerged from areas near the Uttar-Pradesh-Bihar border of bodies being tossed in to the Ganga, leading to a blame game. Locals say ambulance drivers are throwing bodies of Covid patients into the river.

7. Mucormycosis, a rare but serious fungal infection now affecting coronavirus patients, has raised huge concern in Maharashtra, which has the country’s highest overall caseload. “There could be over 2,000 mucormycosis patients in the state, as of now, and with more and more COVID-19 cases coming up, their number would increase for sure,” state Health Minister Rajesh Tope said on Tuesday, news agency PTI reported.

8. Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin has been recommended for the next phase of trials by an expert panel for the two-18 age group, PTI reported citing sources.

9. WHO has warned against the use of ‘ivermectin’ – an orally-administered drug used to treat parasitic infections – for treatment of COVID-19 patients. Earlier this week, Goa approved use of ‘ivermectin’ as preventive treatment for all adults against the SARS-CoV2 virus that causes the COVID-19 disease.

10. This is the second consecutive day to see daily new cases drop below the 3.5 lakh mark in India. Worldwide, 15.96 crore infections have been reported since the pandemic broke.

With input from PTI