Kerala currently has the highest number of active cases at 65,039. (File photo)
India added 21,822 coronavirus infections in 24 hours, taking its tally to 1.02 crore cases, the Health Ministry data this morning showed. The number of fresh infections is six per cent higher than Wednesday, when the country registered 20,549 fresh cases. In the 24-hour period, India, reported 299 deaths linked to the virus, taking the total number of fatalities to 1,48,738. Meanwhile, a total of 17,20,49,274 samples have been tested for COVID-19 up to December 30. Of these, 11,27,244 samples were tested yesterday, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Here are the top 10 updates on coronavirus:
More than 98.60 lakh people have recovered from Covid since the first case was reported on January 30 from Kerala. The national recovery rate now stands at 96.04 per cent, which is one of the highest globally, according to the Union Health Ministry.
The COVID-19 active caseload remained below 3 lakh for the tenth consecutive day. There are 2,57,656 active coronavirus infections in the country which comprises 2.51 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated. Kerala currently has the highest number of active cases at 65,572, while Maharashtra currently has 54,206 active cases.
While there has been a dip in daily surge in infections in the last few months, 25 cases of new mutant strain - first reported in the UK in September - have triggered concerns of a fresh surge in the country's tally. The highly infectious mutant strain was found to have reached India two days ago with travellers returning from the European nation.
Three metros -- Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai -- and several states including Punjab and Kerala have announced restrictions including big gatherings and night curfew for New Year's eve in view of the coronavirus outbreak.
A government-appointed panel of experts on Wednesday reviewed the applications filed by the Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech and Pfizer for the emergency use approval for their vaccines. The analysis of the data is ongoing and the panel will meet again on Friday, a government statement said.
India will have the COVID-19 vaccine within days, AIIMS Delhi Director Dr Randeep Guleria, who is a member of the national task force on Covid management, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. "Now, we have a data, and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved based on the studies in UK, Brazil and South Africa. There is also data from Serum Institute of India (SII). I think, once the data is shown to the regulatory authority, we should get approval for the vaccine in the county within a few days. I would say days rather than weeks or months." he said.
More men than women have been infected by Covid in India, the government data shows. While 63 per cent of the total patients were found to be men, 37 per cent were found to women. 70 per cent of patients who have died of Covid have been found to be men, and 30 per cent women, says data.
On Tuesday India, which has logged the second highest number of cases after the United States, saw the lowest daily rise in infections in over six months with 16,432 cases recorded in the previous 24 hours.
USA, Chile, Norway, Israel, Belgium, South Korea, Denmark, Australia are among the many countries where the cases of new strain have been found.
The US, the worst-hit country in the world, recorded more than 3,900 deaths in the 24 hours, taking its tally to 341,845 deaths since the pandemic began. At least 19,715,899 people have contracted infecton in that country so far.
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