With 8,013 people testing positive for coronavirus in the past 24 hours, 22 per cent lower than yesterday's daily spike of over 10,000 cases, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 4,29,24,130, according to Union Health Ministry data updated today.
The death count climbed to 5,13,843 with 119 fresh fatalities, the data updated this morning stated. Kerala added 46 deaths as backlog to today's tally.
The daily COVID-19 cases have remained less than one lakh for 22 consecutive days.
The active cases, comprising 0.24 per cent of the total infections, dipped to 1,02,601, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has marginally improved to 98.56 per cent, the ministry said.
Here are the Highlights on Covid cases in India:
Oil prices fell despite Moderna Inc's announcement on Monday that a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine appeared to be protective against Omicron in laboratory testing. Read more here.
The fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India may start around June 22 and peak from mid-to-late August, a modelling study by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur suggests.
The Covid restrictions in national capital Delhi have been eased from today. A decision in this regard was taken at a Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) meeting on Friday, in light of the fact that COVID-19 cases have fallen considerably. Click here to see what's changed.
#COVID19 | Vaccination Update - the latest Covid Vaccination equation for Monday, February 28 pic.twitter.com/zLLWr6rObR
- NDTV (@ndtv) February 28, 2022
16,765 recoveries and 119 deaths were recorded in last 24 hours, said the health ministry
In the stores and buses of Iraq masks are rare even as Covid-19 spreads widely, vaccines are viewed with suspicion and the sick see hospitals as a last resort.
At Al-Shifaa Hospital in the capital Baghdad, the ramifications are clear.
"More than 95 percent of those sick with Covid-19 in intensive care are unvaccinated," said Ali Abdel Hussein Kazem, assistant director of the facility.
Half of the 40 intensive care beds are occupied in the department, where irregular beeping from monitors and IV machines is constantly heard.
The national capital logged 484 COVID infections in the last 24 hours, according to Delhi's health bulletin informed on Sunday.
As many as three COVID deaths and 554 recoveries from coronavirus have also been reported in the last 24 hours, the bulletin informed.
Delhi's health bulletin also informed that the national capital presently has 4,777 containment zones.