India reported 2,67,334 new cases of the novel coronavirus and fatalities stood at 4,529 according to the Union health ministry dashboard. As many as 3,89,851 discharges were seen in the last 24 hours, taking the recovery toll to 2,19,86,363. The total covid cases in the country are 2,54,96,330 with 32,26,719 active cases. While the death toll has reached 2,83,248. The total number of Covid-19 tests done during this period was 20,08,296.
By far a total of 18,58,09,302 people been vaccinated against COVID-19 in India.
The country has reported more than 4000 deaths for the 5th time in a row even though the number of fresh cases remained below the 3 lakh mark for the third consecutive day.
The dip in active cases of coronavirus can be associated with the lockdown-like restrictions imposed in several states, especially in the hot spot states, experts said.
For example, Delhi has seen a downward trend in the average positivity rate in the last 10 days, which fell by over 14% from May 8 to May 18. Chhattisgarh, too, noticed its positivity rate drop around 13% in the same period while in Haryana’s dropped over 10%.
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Several states are struggling to get enough vaccines, which is coming in the way of scaling up the vaccination drive. However, the centre has said that over 1.94 crore doses are still available in the states.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday assured: "Vaccination is an effective means of fight Covid and we should together remove all misgivings about it. We are making relentless efforts to increase the supply."
Stressing that efforts are being made to increase vaccine production, Addar Poonawalla on Tuesday stated that his firm "never exported vaccines at the cost of the people of India". Given the massive population India has, it is not possible to vaccinate all in two-three months, Poonawalla added.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has said that about 270 doctors died ever since India was hit by a second wave of Covid-19. On Monday, former IMA president Dr KK Aggarwal died of the covid virus.
NITI Aayog's Dr VK Paul on Tuesday said Phase 2-3 clinical trials for the 2-18 age group will begin in the next 10-12 days. This will be the first time that a vaccine will be tested on children in any country.
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Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday urged the centre to halt flights from Singapore that may cause the third wave in India and might target children. Hours later Singapore denied that it has any homegrown strain, adding that the variant is dominant in India. "There is no truth in the assertion that there is a new COVID strain in Singapore." its High Commission said.