Witnessing a sharp decline, India recorded 3,29,942 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours with 3,876 fatalities, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said here on Tuesday. In the past 19 days, India's daily Covid tally has risen by over three lakh cases and over 3,000 casualties have been reported for the last 13 days. India's total tally of Covid-19 cases now stands at 2,29,92,517 with 37,15,221 active cases and a total of 2,49,992 deaths so far.
However, there have been more recoveries and discharges being reported, with 3,56,082 people have been discharged in the last 24 hours, showing a sign of relief. A total of 1,90,27,304 people have been cured of Covid to date.
On Friday, India had recorded the highest ever 4,14,188 cases.
The Health Ministry said that a total of 17,27,10,066 people have been vaccinated so far in the country, including 25,03,756 who were administered vaccines in the last 24 hours.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 30,56,00,187 samples have been tested up to May 10 for Covid-19. Of these 18,50,110 samples were tested on Monday.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation has classified the B-1617 variant of the Covid-19, first detected in India, as a “variant of concern” at a global level.
Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, COVID-19 Technical Lead at the WHO, on Monday said that the B.1.617 virus variant that was first identified in India had been classified as a “variant of interest” by the WHO.
Also Read: Tirupati: 11 Covid patients die due to oxygen disruption in Ruia hospital
“In consultation with our virus evolution working group, and our Epi teams and our lab teams internally, there is some available information to suggest increased transmissibility of B-1617… as such we are classifying this as a variant of concern at the global level,” she stated.