New Delhi: India reported a single-day rise of 35,178 new COVID-19 cases today, nearly 40% higher than yesterday's 25,166 cases. Besides, 440 new fatalities have taken the COVID-related death count to 4,32,519, according to the health ministry's morning update.
The current caseload across the country stands at 3,67,415, lowest in 148 days. The active cases constitute 1.14% of the total cases, lowest since March 2020. The daily positivity rate is at 1.96%, less than 3% for the last 23 days.
The recovery rate is currently at 97.52%, the highest since March 2020. As many as 3,14,85,923 people have recovered so far across the country with 37,169 patients recovering during the last 24 hours. So far, 56.06 crore vaccine doses have been administered across India, with 55,05,075 doses being administered in the last 24 hours.
Here are the Highlights on Coronavirus Cases:
Aug 18, 2021 22:37 (IST)
Coronavirus New: 36 New Cases In Delhi In 24 Hours
Delhi reported 36 new Covid cases with a positivity rate of 0.05 per cent in the last 24 hours. This is the lowest positivity rate in the capital city this year, reported news agency ANI.
Previously, on August 7, Delhi reported a positivity rate of 0.06 per cent.
Aug 18, 2021 21:50 (IST)
Coronavirus News: 54 Cases In Punjab
Punjab today reported 54 coronavirus cases, taking the state's infection count to 6,00,060, according to a medical bulletin, reported news agency PTI. No death was reported in the period.
Ferozepur reported 14 cases, followed by six in Jalandhar and five in Amritsar.
Aug 18, 2021 20:16 (IST)
Coronavirus News: Vaccine Nationalism Could Lead To Increase In Variants, Shows Study
Vaccine stockpiling by nations may strongly impact global trajectories of Covid case numbers, and increase the potential emergence of novel variants of the virus, a modelling study has warned, reported news agency PTI.
The research, published in the journal Science on Tuesday, explored the effects of different vaccine-sharing schemes on the global persistence of Covid infections, as well as the possibility for the evolution of new variants, using mathematical models.
The researchers noted that allocation of COVID-19 preventives between countries has so far tended towards vaccine nationalism, where countries are stockpiling vaccines to prioritise access for their citizens over equitable vaccine sharing.
Aug 18, 2021 19:05 (IST)
Coronavirus News: No Vaccinations At Mumbai Civic Body-Run Centres On Thursday, Friday
Vaccines will not be administered at centres run by Mumbai's civic body tomorrow and on Friday. The drive will resume on Saturday, officials said.
Aug 18, 2021 18:46 (IST)
Coronavirus News: Over 94 Lakh Covid Vaccine Doses Available With States, Union Territories, Says Centre
More than 57.88 crore Covid vaccine doses have been provided to states and union territories so far, and another 18,62,530 doses are in the pipeline, the Union Health Ministry said today, reported news agency PTI.
Of this, the total consumption, including wastage, is 55,11,64,635 doses (as per data available at 8 am). More than 94 lakh balance and unutilised doses are still available with the states, UTs and private hospitals to be administered, the ministry said.
The Union government is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of COVID-19 vaccination throughout the country, it added.
Aug 18, 2021 18:15 (IST)
Coronavirus News: UP Reopens Schools For Classes 9-12 With 50% Attendance
Schools in Uttar Pradesh reopened this week for senior classes with 50 percent attendance, after being shut since the coronavirus outbreak last year. In the state's rural areas and small towns with less access to mobile learning, students and teachers have both welcomed the decision. The UP government said that it will consider reopening offline classes for other standards too, including the primary sections, by September.
Aug 18, 2021 17:08 (IST)
Coronavirus News: Sputnik Light Covid Vaccine Shows 93.5% Efficacy In Paraguay
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) today announced the data from Paraguay regarding the one-shot Russian Sputnik Light vaccine demonstrating high safety profile and a 93.5 percent efficacy.
An official release stated that the one-shot Sputnik Light vaccine has proven to be highly effective against Covid among more than 320,000 subjects who had received the vaccine based on the data collected by July 30, 2021.
Aug 18, 2021 16:34 (IST)
Coronavirus News: Twitter Introduces New Feature For Reporting Covid Misinformation
In a new attempt to combat misinformation regarding coronavirus, Twitter has announced that it will begin testing a new reporting feature for users to flag tweets containing possible misinformation, reported news agency ANI.
According to The Verge, through the new feature, the users will be able to report misinformation through the same process as they use to report harassment or other harmful content.
Users will also be given an option to select whether the misinformation is political, health-related, or falls into another category.
Aug 18, 2021 11:49 (IST)
COVID-19 India News: Mizoram Adds 600 New Cases, One Death
Mizoram on Wednesday reported 600 fresh COVID-19 cases, raising the tally to 49,950, while the death count mounted to 185 with one more fatality, a health department official said, reported news agency PTI. Over 133 children and two Border Security Force (BSF) jawans were among the newly-infected patients, he said. The northeastern state now has 9,084 active cases and 40,681 people have recovered from the disease. The state's recovery rate stood at 81.44 per cent and the death rate at 0.37 per cent.
