With 54,044 new cases, India’s Covid-19 tally crosses 7.6 million-mark

There was no shortage of medical oxygen in last 10 months and won’t be any in future also, health secretary Rajesh Bhushan has said.

About 54,044 new Covid-19 infections were reported in the last 24 hours in India, taking the total tally to 7,651,107. In the same period, 717 deaths have been recorded, continuing the trend of high recoveries across the country. On Tuesday, there were 46,790 new cases and 587 deaths.

Employees of a government school queue up to register their names for COVID-19 test, on the outskirts of Jammu. (PTI)

According to health ministry’s dashboard, the active number of Covid-19 cases stands at 7,400,90. Over 67 lakh people have recovered from the infection so far.

Since the last week of September, Covid-19 cases on Oxygen support (in ICUs, ventilation, oxygen-supported beds) have shown a significant decrease, the ministry said adding that this trend aligns with the national decline of active cases to less than 10 per cent of the total cases.

“The Centre’s focussed and comprehensive strategies have resulted in enhanced medical infrastructure, use of oxygen as part of the Standard Treatment Protocol for clinical management of patients, and extensive arrangements of oxygen supply across the country,” the ministry said.

“There was no shortage of medical oxygen in last 10 months and won’t be any in future also. However, we have always believe in proactive and graded response to the pandemic and therefore taken proactive steps to augment the oxygen supply,” health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on Tuesday, announcing the installation of oxygen generation plants in 246 hospitals in the country.