Coronavirus Cases in India: 55,342 fresh COVID-19 cases in India, 71.7 lakh total cases so far; 706 deaths in 24 hours, 1,09,856 total deaths

Coronavirus Cases in India: Daily cases has fallen from a peak of almost 1,00,000 in mid-September.

Highlights

India has logged over 71.75 lakh cases so far
More than 62 lakh patients have recovered
Total number of fatalities linked to Covid have shot to 1,09,856

New Delhi: The downward trend in India's coronavirus cases continues as 55,342 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in the last 24 hours taking the country's Covid tally past 71.75 lakh, shows data shared by the Health Ministry this morning. This is the first time since August 18 (55,079) that India has reported around 55,000 cases in a day, and second day when the total new infections were under 70,000 since the September surge of around 90,000 cases a day. With 77,760 new recoveries, active cases have further come down to 8.38 lakh. The total number of fatalities associated with the viral infection shot to 1,09,856 with 706 people succumbing to COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.

Here are the top 10 updates on coronavirus cases:

Almost 62.2 lakh people have beaten COVID-19 till now, government data shows, pushing up India's recovery rate to 86.8 per cent.
The Covid death rate in India, which has been reporting between 800 and 900 deaths a day since early August, is 1.5 per cent.
India's daily positivity rate stood at 5.2 per cent as the government tested 10.7 lakh people on Monday. A total of 8.8 crore tests have been done till now. With an average of about 9 lakh tests being conducted per week for the past month, India's average weekly positivity rate has fallen from 8.4 per cent to 6.3 per cent.
Though Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu continued to dominate the list of states with maximum daily cases, their daily caseload has reduced significantly with the exception of West Bengal (3,583). The eastern state has been reporting its highest ever 24-hour percentage rise in cases for the past fortnight. Together these states account for 52.5 per cent of all cases in the country.
Maximum deaths were reported from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, which together accounted for almost 57 per cent of all fatalities.
More than 18,006 tonnes of COVID-19 biomedical waste have been generated in the last four months, with Maharashtra contributing the maximum (3,587 tonnes) to it, according to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.
India is the second worst affect country by the coronavirus pandemic. It is almost 6 lakh cases short of surpassing the Covid tally in the US - worst Covid-hit country till now with more than 78 lakh cases and more than 2 lakh deaths.
The World Bank has said continued closure of schools in many states may cause a loss of over $ 400 billion in the country's future earnings, besides substantial learning losses. South Asia region stands to lose $ 622 billion from the school closures in the present scenario or up to $ 880 billion in a more pessimistic scenario, it said, adding the regional loss is largely driven by India.
As the world races to find a vaccine for the COVID-19 virus, the World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus cautioned against calls in some countries to let Covid-19 run its course in the hope of people developing so-called herd immunity, saying it was "unethical"
Johnson & Johnson has temporarily halted its COVID-19 vaccine trial because one of its participants had become sick. The pause means the online enrollment system has been closed for the 60,000-patient clinical trial as an independent patient safety committee is convened.