India’s daily Covid-19 case count up to 38,792; 624 deaths reported

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) data, as many as 435,973,639 samples have so far been tested for Covid-19 in the country, of which, 1,915,501 accounts for the last 24 hours.

India recorded 38,792 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, which took the cumulative infection tally in the country to 30,946,074, according to the Union health ministry's bulletin on Wednesday morning. With 624 new fatalities reported in the same period, the death toll now stands at 411,408, according to the ministry's update at 8am. The country also saw 41,000 people getting discharged from the hospitals, after which the total number of recoveries reached 30,104,720.

Union health ministry, joint secretary, Luv Aggarwal has said that adhering to or lack of Covid-appropriate behaviour is what will either prevent or cause any future waves.

The active case count further dipped to 429,946, constituting 1.40 per cent of India’s overall caseload. The situation is worrying in comparison to Tuesday's figures when 31,443 new cases were logged in. Although Wednesday’s death count is 1,396 less than Tuesday’s – when a sharp increase was seen due to data correction by states like Madhya Pradesh. On Sunday, 895 fatalities were reported and the count went down further to 724 on Monday.

As many as 435,973,639 samples have so far been tested for Covid-19 in the country, of which, 1,915,501 accounts for the last 24 hours, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) data.

Meanwhile, during his meeting with the chief ministers of the northeast states on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the overcrowding of tourists in hilly regions of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, terming it “not right”. “I would like to emphasise that the crowds that are emerging at hill stations and markets without masks or without following protocols are a matter of concern,” he said.

At a press briefing later on Tuesday, Union health ministry official Luv Aggarwal said that adhering to Covid-appropriate behaviour or lack of it is what will “prevent or cause any future waves”. “We talk about the third wave as if it’s a weather update,” he added.

India’s vaccination coverage has exceeded 38.5 million, with more than 3,410,974 Covid-19 vaccine jabs administered to beneficiaries till Tuesday 7pm, according to the Union health ministry. Notably, India commenced its nationwide vaccination drive on January 16 this year, while the new phase of universal free-of-cost vaccination campaign kickstarted on June 21.