India reported a daily jump of 61,871 coronavirus infections in 24 hours, taking its tally near the 75-lakh mark, the Health Ministry data this morning showed.The number of cases in the country now stand at 74,94,551. In the 24-hour period, India, which is the second worst-hit country, reported 1,033 deaths linked to the virus, taking the total number of fatalities to 1,14,031. The number of active cases remained below eight lakh for the second consecutive day.
Here are the top 10 developments on coronavirus cases in India:
India has "scaled up" its COVID-19 testing capacity "from one in January to over 9.32 crore at present, the Health Ministry said this morning. "The very high testing has resulted in the continuous falling positivity rate, which has now fallen below 8%," it said.
Maharashtra (10,259 cases), Kerala (9,016 cases), Karnataka (7,184 cases), Tamil Nadu (4,295 cases) and West Bengal (3,865 cases) have reported the maximum cases in the last 24 hours, the data showed.
There are 7,83,311 active cases in the country which comprise 10.45 per cent of the total caseload, according to the the data. The COVID-19 case fatality rate, meanwhile, stands at 1.52 per cent.
It is after two weeks that the daily deaths in the country have gone over 1,000 mark; the last time the figure crossed the 1,000-mark was in October 3 when 1,069 deaths were recorded. Nearly half of the reported 1,033 virus-related deaths were reported from Maharashtra (463 deaths), with Uttarakhand, Karnataka, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu - the other states with highest fatalities in last 24 hours -- reporting under 100 deaths.
The central government has rushed high-level teams of experts to Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal amid sharp surge in daily cases in these states.
Though India continues to report the highest number of new COVID-19 daily infections in the world, the daily surge has come down from 80,000-90,000 fresh daily cases in mid-September to about 70,000 in the past week.
Two studies on the genome of the coronavirus in India conducted by the country's top clinical research body and the Department of Bio-Technology suggest that the COVID-19 virus is genetically stable and has shown no major mutation, the Prime Minister's office said on Saturday. Last month, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had said no significant or drastic mutations have been found in strains of SARS-CoV-2 in India till now.
On Saturday, PM Modi, during a reviewed meeting, called for "speedy access" to the coronavirus vaccine when one is made available. The vaccine distribution, PM Modi said, should involve state and UT governments and civil society organisations, and have a strong IT backbone that will boost India's healthcare system.
Globally, the coronavirus pandemic has cost the lives of 11 lakh people. At least 1,100,056 fatalities, out of 38,997,267 cases, have been reported. Almost one in five deaths was in the United States, the hardest-hit country which has 2.2 lakh deaths from 80 lakh infections, followed by Brazil with 1.5 lakh deaths from 52 lakh cases, India with 1.1 lakh deaths from 74.3 lakh cases.
India remains the second worst affected country in the world behind the Unites States - which is seeing a fresh spike in cases ahead of the winter months. However, India has one of the "lowest deaths per million population globally", the Health Ministry has said.
