Coronavirus India Cases: More than 55,000 Covid-linked deaths have been recorded so far.
India recorded its biggest single-day jump in coronavirus cases with 69,878 new patients registered in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said this morning. The latest spike takes India's tally to 29,75,701 cases. About 22.22 lakh people have recovered. 55,794 Covid-linked deaths have been registered so far; 945 patients have died since yesterday, according to the official data. The recovery rate stood at 74.69 per cent this morning. The country tested the highest number of samples on Friday - 10,23,836.
Here are top 10 developments on coronavirus cases in India:
India, the third worst-hit county by the pandemic after the United States and Brazil, has been reporting the highest number of daily Covid cases in the world for the last 18 days. The United States has logged over 56 lakh cases so far, and Brazil has logged over 35 lakh cases, about six lakh more than India.
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh are the five worst-affected states in India by the outbreak.
Several states are announcing fresh restrictions amid spike in cases. Haryana on Friday announced weekend lockdown and said all offices and shops will remain shut on weekends, except the stores selling essential items.
Punjab has ordered a daily night curfew - from 7 PM to 5 AM, starting Friday - and a weekend lockdown in all 167 cities and towns in the state, as part of a strict response to the worrying surge in coronavirus cases.
The Election Commission on Friday announced guidelines for conducting polls amid pandemic. Door-to-door campaigns with only five people and gloves for voters before they press the button at electronic voting machines are some of the rules part of the guidelines.
India tested the highest number of samples on Friday - 10,23,836. About 3.4 crore samples have been tested so far; one sample can be tested more than once The positivity rate - an indicator of the prevalance of the disease- stood at 6.82 per cent this morning.
The World Health Organization said on Friday it hopes the planet will be rid of the coronavirus pandemic in less than two years -- faster than it took for the Spanish flu. "We hope to finish this pandemic before less than two years," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters from the WHO's headquarters in Geneva, insisting that it should be possible to tame the novel coronavirus faster than the deadly 1918 pandemic, news agency AFO reported.
Amid the outbreak, Ganesh Ghaturthi celebrations across the country have been scaled down.
Across the world, about 2.29 crore people have contracted the virus so far; about 7.98 lakh have died.
Russia's plan to roll-out its "Sputnik-V" COVID-19 vaccine even before full trials show how well it works is prompting concern among virus experts, who warn a partially effective shot may encourage the novel coronavirus to mutate, news agency Reurters reported.
