
India recorded less than 300 daily deaths in last 7 days: Govt
India has reported less than 300 deaths related to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) every day since the last one week, the government said on Friday, as 256 fatalities were logged from across the country in 24 hours. The deaths between Thursday and Friday morning has taken the second-worst affected country’s toll rose to 148,994, the health ministry added on the first day of the New Year.
The Union health ministry also said 10 states and Union territories account for 80.47% of the new deaths and that Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi account for 63% of total fatalities in the country. According to the health ministry, out of the 148,994 deaths, 49,521 have been in Maharashtra, 12,122 in Tamil Nadu, 12,090 in Karnataka, 10,536 in Delhi, 9,712 in West Bengal, 8,364 in Uttar Pradesh, 7,108 in Andhra Pradesh and 5,341 fatalities in Punjab so far.
“Daily deaths have been less than 300 since the last 7 days. This has ensured that the mortality remains low and presently stands at 1.45%,” the Union ministry of health and family welfare said. “Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (58). Kerala and West Bengal follow with 30 and 29 daily deaths, respectively,” it added.
Also read | Covid-19 vaccine update: Pan-India dry run on Saturday, WHO approves Pfizer’s candidate
India’s active caseload also continued to “exhibit a sustained downward movement”, the ministry said. It has significantly dropped to 254,254 on Friday-the lowest after 179 days. The total active cases were 253,287 on July 6, 2020. India’s present active caseload consists of just 2.47% of India’s total positive cases. “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,” it said.
The daily Covid-10 infections also remained below 30,000 for the 19th consecutive day as the tally rose to 10,286,709 with 20,035 cases in the last 24 hours. The daily new cases in India in recent days have been around 20,000. The ministry said that 23,181 Covid-19 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, adding that “recoveries outnumbering daily new cases from the last 35 days have ensured a consistent decline in active cases.”
Also read | ‘2020 is gone, Covid-19 hasn’t’: A warning bell in Delhi CM’s New Year message
The total recoveries are at 9,883,461 and the gap between recovered and active cases, that is steadily increasing, has crossed 9.6 million and presently stands at 9,629,207 pushing the national recovery rate to 96.08 per cent. The ministry said that 77.61% of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 states and Union territories. “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,” it said.
Also read | From cargo planes to vans: Here’s how Centre plans to distribute Covid-19 vaccine
The new numbers come on a day the subject expert committee (SEC) under the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) will meet to consider the emergency-use authorisation application of Pfizer, Serum Institute of India (SII) that is to manufacture the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.
India will also extend the dry run of vaccination drive against the coronavirus disease to the rest of the country on Saturday after Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat. All state capitals will conduct dry runs in at least three session sites and some will also include districts that are situated in difficult terrain or have poor logistical support.

Emergency was a mistake, says Rahul Gandhi; talks about father, Prabhakaran

India-US ties greatest testament to Gandhi-King legacy, says Indian diplomat

Climate crisis to cost $100 billion to Indian firms in next 5 years: Report

Delhi Assembly session next week: Govt may table state budget on March 9
- For 2020-21, Delhi had pegged budgeted revenue receipts (excluding borrowings) at ₹55,309 crore. Revised estimates for the year will be mentioned in the upcoming budget (2021-22) and actual revenue receipts for the year will reflect in the budget after that.

Long wait times, glitches in Co-WIN slow vaccine drive

Wife not husband’s chattel, can't be forced to live with him, says Supreme Court

SC tells states to install CCTVs in police stations, probe agencies in 5 months
- Court-appointed amicus curiae senior advocate Siddhartha Dave prepared a chart indicating unsatisfactory response from states as well with some proposing to achieve compliance of Court’s December 2, 2020 order by end of 2023.

SC backs taxpayers in software royalty case
- The judgment, which involved approximately ₹500 crore in tax revenue, will impact companies such as IBM India Ltd, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, Hewlett Packard India, Mphasis Ltd, Sonata Software Ltd, and GE India, among others.

5 days after 12-year-old girl disappeared in UP’s Bulandshahr, body found in pit
- The girl's family lodged a complaint three day after she went missing.

Barely 22 days after taking first jab of vaccine, medico dies of Covid-19
- Shubhendu Shubham, 23, a 2016-batch student of Patna’s Nalanda Medical College Hospital (NMCH), had taken the first shot of Covaxin in the first week of February, but tested positive for the viral infection later last month before he could take the second shot

Srinagar market desolate after death of eatery owner's son in militant attack
- For the past 13 days, the Durga-Nag market at Dalgate in Srinagar has been desolate and locals and traders in grief

PM Modi’s photo on vaccination certificate violates model code, TMC tells ECI
- TMC’s leader in the Rajya Sabha Derek O, Brien asked the Election Commission to stop the Prime Minister "from taking unfair advantages and undue publicity at tax payer’s cost during the conduct of elections".

Ghulam Nabi Azad becomes catalyst in rift in Congress unit in J-K
- Ghulam Nabi Azad detractors and supporters in the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Committee accused each other of acting at the behest of the BJP.

Jailed Assam leader urges parties to put up common candidates against BJP
- Jailed Assam leader urges parties to put up common candidates against BJP
