COVID-19: India's single-day tally drops below 1 lakh
India on Monday reported over 80,000 new COVID-19 cases, a sharp decline of over 25,000 cases from the previous day. The active caseload currently stands at 11,08,938, which accounts for 2.62% of the total cases. In the past 24 hours, 83,876 new cases and 895 fatalities were reported. Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 recovery rate has reached 96.19%.
Why does the story matter?
India's single-day COVID-19 infection dropped below one lakh on Monday for the first time after a peak in cases in December-end and at the beginning of January. Both active caseload and daily positivity rates are also recording a sharp decline, indicating the improving situation. The peak in cases—dubbed India's third wave—has been attributed to the highly contagious Omicron variant of coronavirus.
Nearly 2 lakh patients discharged
According to the Union Health Ministry, India reported a total of 4,22,72,014 COVID-19 cases till Monday morning. The death toll reached 5,02,874. With 1,99,054 fresh discharges, the number of total recoveries climbed to 4,06,60,202. The daily positivity rate witnessed a marginal decline and currently stands at 7.25%. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 9.18%.
Kerala adds most new cases
Maharashtra reported 9,666 new COVID-19 cases along with 25,175 more recoveries. Kerala, the second worst-hit state after Maharashtra, reported 26,729 new cases and 49,261 discharges. The third worst-hit Karnataka added 8,425 fresh cases and 19,800 recoveries. Tamil Nadu, the fourth worst-hit state, witnessed 6,120 new cases and 23,144 discharges. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh reported 2,690 new cases and 11,855 recoveries.
India's second wave peaked on May 7
India's second wave peaked on May 7, 2021, when 4.14 lakh single-day cases were reported, over four times the number of cases reported during the first wave in mid-September 2020. Although infections declined after the second wave peaked, India crossed the three-crore mark on June 23. The country crossed the one-crore mark on December 19, 2020, and the two-crore mark on May 4, 2021.
Nearly 170 crore vaccine doses administered
Till 10 am on Monday, India administered over 169.6 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. Overall, more than 73 crore people have been fully vaccinated, while over 95.1 crore people have received one dose. On Monday alone, India administered nearly one lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses till 10 am, including over 64,000 second doses and over 17,000 first doses, according to Co-WIN.
Over 1.4 crore 'precautionary' doses administered
Meanwhile, India has administered over 1.4 crore "precautionary" doses since January 10. On Thursday, over 5,000 healthcare/frontline workers and over 15,000 elderly people were given the precautionary dose till 10 am.
DCGI grants emergency use permission to Sputnik-Light
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has granted emergency use permission to single-dose Sputnik Light COVID-19 vaccine in the country, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Sunday. The decision was taken after an expert panel of India's central drug authority recommended restricted emergency use authorization to Sputnik Light. Notably, Sputnik-Light is the same as component-1 of Sputnik V.
