India’s Covid-19 case count on Sunday reached 1,00,31,223 after it reported 26,624 new cases in 24 hours, and the country’s toll rose to 1,45,477 with 341 more deaths in a day. The number of active cases are 3,05,344, and 95,80,402 patients have recovered from the disease.
The recovery rate in India has improved to 95.46% and the fatality rate was 1.45%. The Indian Council of Medical Research said that 16,11,98,195 people were tested till Saturday, including 11,07,681 on the same day.
While the daily infections have dropped steadily since hitting a peak in September, India on Saturday hit a grim milestone by becoming only the second country, after the United States, to report more than 1 crore cases.
Serum Institute of India’s Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla has said that he and other Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers in the country will ask the government to provide them protection against lawsuits, suing them for adverse reactions to their shots at the time of inoculation.
India’s top drug and medical device regulator Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation imposed a week-long ban on the import, sale, and distribution of the rapid antigen kits that were manufactured by South Korean company SD Biosensors for not complying with the basic requirement of sensitivity and specificity, reported Hindustan Times. For any RAT kit to get approval for sale and use in the country, the ICMR mandates it to have a minimum specificity of 95% and sensitivity of 50%.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic seemed to be brought under control. “There was a time in November when the daily cases went up to nearly 8,600,” Kejriwal said during an online media briefing, according to PTI. “But, even then it wasn’t a panicky situation in Delhi, and beds were available. We fought it all together. The fresh cases count today is 1,133, the official report will soon be out.” The highest one-day rise so far was reported on November 11.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has identified a new variant of the coronavirus, which “can spread more quickly” than prior strains of the virus, prompting Prime Minister Boris Johnson to impose fresh restrictions on parts of the country. London said it had informed the World Health Organization of its findings.
New restrictions were also announced in Australia’s Greater Sydney area in a bid to contain an outbreak of Covid-19. Gatherings at home will be limited to 10 people and 300 will be allowed in venues till Wednesday. The outbreak in Sydney’s Northern Beaches grew to 68 cases on Sunday, with 30 new cases registered in 24 hours, reported BBC.
Chilean President Sebastián Piñera was fined $3,500 (approximately Rs 2,57,624) for violating coronavirus rules by posing for a selfie without a face mask.
Source: Scroll.in