Coronavirus: India's daily death toll remained under 300 last week
India recorded less than 300 deaths linked to coronavirus every day between last Thursday and today, the government said. Yesterday, 256 died of viral disease, taking the nationwide death toll to 1,48,994, as per the Health Ministry. The most number of people died in Maharashtra (49,521), followed by Tamil Nadu (12,122), Karnataka (12,090), Delhi (10,536), and West Bengal (9,712). Here's more.
Mortality rate is 1.45%
The ministry said that the current trends contributed to maintaining a low mortality rate. It now stands at 1.45%. "Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (58). Kerala and West Bengal follow with 30 and 29 daily deaths, respectively," the ministry said, disclosing yesterday's figures. The government added the active caseload is exhibiting a "downward movement," and is now at 2,54,254, the lowest in 179 days.
Over 80% of cases concentrated in 10 states and UTs
"80.19% of the new cases are concentrated in 10 states and UTs. Kerala reported the highest daily new cases at 5,215. It is followed by Maharashtra with 3,509 new cases," the ministry said, also revealing that active caseload is just 2.47% of total cases.
By today morning, almost 99 lakh had defeated the disease
The number of recoveries reached 98,83,461 after 23,181 defeated the disease on Thursday. The recovery rate stands at 96.08%, a record in itself. "Kerala has reported the maximum number of single-day recoveries with 5,376 newly recovered cases. 3,612 people recovered in Maharashtra followed by 1,537 in West Bengal," the ministry said. Over 77% of the new recoveries are concentrated in 10 states and UTs.
Moreover, December's coronavirus tally is lowest in six months
In yet another positive news, India recorded the lowest number of coronavirus cases in six months in the last month of 2020. Nearly 8,24,000 fresh coronavirus cases were reported in December, the lowest tally since June. December was a good month with respect to fatalities as well as 11,400 died. The death toll was lesser than June's 11,988 fatalities.
Seven-day rolling average dipped by half from November to December
On November 30, the seven-day rolling average of cases stood at 40,868. Cut to one month later, it slipped by nearly half and was recorded at 20,507 on December 30. The last time the seven-day rolling average dipped for every single day was in October. As compared to November, cases dipped by 35% in December, the sharpest monthly decline recorded to date.
Expert panel gave approval to Oxford's coronavirus vaccine
Meanwhile, India came a step closer to vaccinating its citizens as the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) panel gave the nod to the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and British-pharma giant AstraZeneca. The vaccine now has to get approval from the Drugs Controller General of India, Dr. VG Somani. Serum Institute of India (SII) is producing millions of doses of the vaccine.
