India has seen a marginal improvement in its COVID-19 numbers in the past 24 hours, with both the number of positive cases as well as fatalities falling a little. It remained second in the global ranking of total cases, though, with over 7.7 lakh cases, behind the US's 8.4 lakh. Over 1.1 lakh people have died of the disease across the country since the first case was reported in Kerala in January. The government of India on Thursday said it had earmarked Rs 50,000 crore to inoculate the entire population once a vaccine is ready.
Here are the top 10 updates on coronavirus:
Up to 54,366 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported from across the country, besides 690 deaths in past 24 hours. It also reported 73,979 recoveries in this period. On Thursday, the figures stood at 55,839 new cases and 702 deaths, besides 61,775 recoveries.
The total number of COVID-19 positive cases reported in India till now has touched 77,61,312, of which 6,95,509 are still active cases as of today. Up to 69,48,497 people have recovered, while 1,17,306 succumbed to the disease since it was first recorded in India in January.
Going by these figures, the recovery rate in India is around 89.5% and the fatality rate 1.5%.
The country conducted around 14,42,722 tests in the past 24 hours alone, taking the total figure to 10,01,13,085.
Maharashtra stood at the top in terms of both the number of fresh cases recorded (7,539) and the number of deaths (198). Other states in the top five with fresh cases were Kerala, Karnataka, West Bengal, and Andhra Pradesh. In the number of deaths, Karnataka, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, and Tamil Nadu followed Maharashtra, in that order.
However, this is the fifth consecutive day that Maharashtra has recorded fewer than 10,000 fresh cases. The state's recovery rate has also improved to 88 percent.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Thursday that the rate of spread of the virus among those below the age of 10 and above the age of 60 was increasing in the state.
India has reportedly set aside around Rs 50,000 crore to vaccinate the world's second most populous nation. This is based on estimates that it would cost between $6-$7 to inoculate each Indian, the reports said.
The global figure now stands at over 4.12 crore cases and over 11.3 lakh deaths, according to WHO.
The US remains the worst-hit country, with over 8.18 lakh cases and almost 2.2 lakh deaths.
