India’s daily Covid-19 cases continue to decline further as 165,553 fresh infections—the lowest single-day rise in 46 days—were recorded in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry informed on Sunday
Covid-related deaths, however, continue to remain high as 3,460 people succumbed to the infection, taking the total death toll to 325,972. The cumulative number of the Covid-19 cases has increased to 2,78,94,800, with a daily positivity rate at 8.02 per cent, which is less than 10 per cent for the sixth consecutive day.
“There are 21,14,508 active cases of Covid-19 in India. The active cases decreased by 114,216 in the last 24 hours,” the Health Ministry said.
Also, the weekly positivity rate continues to decline and stood at 9.36 per cent. Daily recoveries in the country continued to outnumber the daily new cases for the 17th consecutive day, as India witnessed 2,76,309 fresh recoveries in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said. The recovery tally of India has reached to 2,54,54,320 and the recovery rate stands at 91.25 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Centre has set a target to procure 20 to 25 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses by July-end and 30 crore doses in August-September, informed government sources told ANI on Sunday. This came amid reports of shortage of Covid-19 vaccines in the country as flagged by several state governments. According to sources, the Serum Institute of India (SII) has initiated the process of ramping up the production of vaccine and will provide 10 crore doses of Covishield to the Centre by the next month and 10 to 12 crore doses by July. The government also targets to inoculate 1 crore people on a daily basis, sources said.
According to the Union Health Ministry, a total of 21,20,66,614 vaccine doses have been administered through 30,07,831 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am today. More than 30.35 Lakh (30,35,749) vaccine doses have been given in the last 24 hours.
“For the month of May, a total quantum of more than 4.03 crore vaccine doses has been made available by the Union government to states, free of cost. In addition, a total quantum of more than 3.90 crore doses was also available for direct procurement by the states as well as private hospitals in the month of May 2021. Therefore, in May 2021 a total number of 7,94,05,200 doses were available for the national Covid vaccination programme,” the ministry said.
India is currently using three vaccines—Covishield manufactured by SII, Covaxin of Bharat Biotech and Russia’s Sputnik V.
The day also saw Uttar Pradesh announcing that the Covid-induced lockdown in the state will be relaxed from 1 June onwards in those districts that have less than 600 active cases as of 30 May. However, weekend and night curfew will remain imposed across the state. Night curfew will be imposed from 7 pm to 7 am.
This means the lockdown will continue in 20 districts including state capital Lucknow, Noida and Ghaziabad. In these districts, markets, schools, colleges and educational institutions will continue to remain closed.
As for the remaining districts, shops outside containment zones will be allowed to open for five days during the week in districts that have less than 600 active Covid-19 cases. Government offices will open with 50 per cent attendance on a rotational basis. Private offices can open but Covid-appropriate behaviour must be followed and work-from-home is still encouraged where possible. At religious places, not more than five people will be allowed at any point of time. At weddings, only 25 guests can be present at any given time. For funeral processions, a maximum of 20 people has been permitted.
Restaurants will only operate via home delivery. Only those food stalls and dhabas that are located on highways/expressways will be allowed to open for dine-in services, provided Covid protocol is followed.
Coming to the national capital, with 78 new deaths in the last 24 hours, Delhi’s single day Covid-19 death toll dropped below 100 for the first time since 13 April, while recording 946 fresh infections, according to the Delhi government’s health bulletin on Sunday.
According to the Delhi government’s health bulletin on Sunday, as many as 1,803 people recovered from the disease in the 24-hour period, while the positivity rate remained below 2 per cent and stood at 1.25 per cent. As per the government data, 75,440 tests were conducted during the last 24 hours and 1,92,37,040 tests were conducted so far. The cumulative caseload of Delhi has now reached 14,25,592 including 12,100 active cases, 13,89,341 recoveries and 24,151 deaths.
Delhi is currently under lockdown since April 19. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has recently extended the ongoing lockdown in the national capital by one more week till 5 am on 7 June while allowing operations of manufacturing/production units within closed premises.
Earlier in the day, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal too extended the ongoing Covid lockdown in the state till 7 June. He said shops can operate from 9 am to 3 pm, with shopkeepers following the odd-even formula. Educational institutions will remain closed till June 15 and the night curfew will continue from 10 pm to 5 am.