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Centre's warning ahead of festivals, Maha to reopen schools: Top Covid updates
The country’s daily tally saw a fall with 29,616 infections in the last 24 hours while over 28,000 recoveries and 290 deaths due to Covid-19 were reported on Saturday. Several restrictions have been lifted across states and Union Territories (UTs) to revive the overall economic activity and the vaccination drive is accelerating.
India has recorded 33,624,419 cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) since the beginning of the pandemic last year, according to the Union ministry of health and family welfare on Saturday. Of these, 32,876,319 patients have recovered, 446,658 have died and the active cases stand at 301,442, the health ministry data shows.
The country’s daily tally saw a fall with 29,616 infections in the last 24 hours while over 28,000 recoveries and 290 deaths due to Covid-19 were reported on Saturday. Several restrictions have been lifted across states and Union Territories (UTs) to revive the overall economic activity and the vaccination drive is accelerating. However, experts have been warning about the threat of the probable third wave of Covid-19, especially because of the upcoming festive season.
Here are the top Covid-19 updates across India during this week:
> The highest infections reported this week were on Thursday when 31,923 people were detected as Covid-19 positive. The lowest single-day tally on Tuesday with 26,115 new cases.
> The most number of deaths this week was on Wednesday at 383 while the lowest was on Tuesday at 252.
> The Union health ministry is planning to celebrate the administration of a billion vaccine doses to eligible beneficiaries by next month.
> The Centre once again requested citizens to exercise caution in view of the festive season. States and UTs have been requested to announce restrictions or relaxations after analysing the weekly Covid-19 positivity rate.
> The Centre is likely to allow a smaller gap between two doses of Serum Institute of India’s vaccine Covishield.
> As India and the United Kingdom are yet to reach a consensus on recognising the former’s vaccination certificate, a UK envoy said on Friday that there are no technical concerns with India’s vaccine certificate.
How are states faring?
Kerala, Maharashtra and Karnataka are still continuing to report a high number of cases and are contributing the most towards the country’s daily Covid-19 tally. Kerala, the worst-hit state in India, on Friday reported 17,983 new Covid-19 cases, 127 more related deaths and 15,054 recoveries. The caseload due to the viral disease is nearing 4.6 million with 162,846 active cases in Kerala. Despite the worsening health crisis, the state government has allowed the reopening of schools in a staggered manner from November.
In Maharashtra, the cumulative infection count stands at 6,537,843 including 6,357,012 recoveries and 138,776 deaths. The active cases in Maharashtra have further declined to 38,491. On Friday, 3,286 cases, 51 deaths and nearly 4,000 recoveries were reported. The Maha-Vikas Aghadi (MVA) led state government is set to reopen religious places across Maharashtra from October 7. The government will also reopen schools from October 4. “In rural areas classes will resume from classes 5 to 12 and in urban areas from classes 8 to 12,” Maharashtra education minister Varsha Gaikwad said.
Karnataka, which is currently at risk of increased spread of Covid-19 due to the situation in neighbouring Kerala, has so far reported over 2.97 million cases which include 13,306 active cases. On Saturday, Karnataka saw a slight fall in daily cases at 789. The state government has allowed 100% occupancy in cinemas and auditoriums starting October.
Tamil Nadu, another state in the southern part of India, has been reporting an increase in Covid-19 cases for the past few weeks. On Friday, the state recorded another high of 1,745 infections and 27 deaths. As many as 1,624 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours. Tamil Nadu will launch its third mega vaccination drive on Sunday with an aim to inoculate 1.5 million beneficiaries. The first and second drives were held on September 12 and September 19 respectively.
