A day after reporting the world's highest daily surge, India today saw more than 4,000 deaths linked to Covid in a day for the first time and over 4 lakh daily cases for the fourth time in a week. The government yesterday said a third Covid wave may not happen if strong measures are taken.
Registering a steady increase, the active cases have increased to 36,45,164 comprising 16.96 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has dropped to 81.95 per cent.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,76,12,351, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.09 per cent, the data stated.
Meanwhile, a drug to treat coronavirus patients, developed by the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation), has been approved for emergency use by the country's top drugs controller as India battles the second wave of the pandemic that is killing thousands every day.
The drug comes in powder form in a sachet and is taken orally by dissolving it in water.
A DRDO lab and Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy's Laboratories developed the anti-Covid therapeutic application of the drug 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG).
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) cleared the drug after clinical trial results showed that a molecule present in the drug helps in faster recovery of hospitalised patients and reduces supplemental oxygen dependence.