As cases of 'black fungus' among COVID-19 patients in the country rise to cross 7,000, the Centre on Thursday urged all states and union territories to declare it as a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act to ensure mandatory surveillance to tackle the 'new challenge'.
The death toll climbed to 4,73,757 with 220 fresh fatalities.
The COVID-19 case fatality rate has further declined to 1.52 per cent.
The panel was informed that the economic impact of the second wave of viral infection was "asynchronous in its onset and wider in its spread particularly in rural hinterland", a source said.
The country saw a reduction in the number of swine flu cases due to masks and sanitation practices.
The daily positivity rate was recorded 3.24 per cent. It has been less than 5 per cent for 11 consecutive days, the ministry said, adding the weekly positivity rate has declined to 3.80 per cent.
There are 7,85,996 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 21.29 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Delhi, Telangana, UP and Andhra Pradesh contribute to around 75 per cent of the new cases, according to the Union health ministry data.
These 51 cases were detected from over 45,000 samples sequenced so far in the country.
The death toll climbed to 4,62,690 with 501 fresh fatalities, including 419 from Kerala, according to the data updated at 8 am.
The country recorded 311 new deaths in the 24-hour period till Sunday morning while the recovery rate rose to above 50 per cent
The total recoveries have surged to 84,78,124 pushing the national recovery rate to 93.67 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.47 per cent.
While the number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 7,409, as many as 764 people have been cured and discharged, and one had migrated, it said. Of the total 273 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 127 fatalities, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 36, Gujarat at 22 and Delhi at 19.
People must also avoid mass gatherings, and new year celebrations need to be at low intensity, the government said.
This is the seventh consecutive day when COVID-19 cases increased by more than 30,000.
The number of fresh cases of the coronavirus infection has been recorded below 15,000 for the last 47 days now.
He also said that although India got independence much before Goa became free, people of the country could not enjoy at that time as they felt uneasy thinking that one part was the country was still under foreign rule.
With 14,348 people testing positive for coronavirus in a day, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 3,42,46,157, while the active cases were recorded at 1,61,334, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Friday.
Politics, bureaucracy, ineptitude, double-standards and an attempt to politicise the fight in pseudo-nationalistic terms have all hampered the fight against this deadly virus, says Vir Sanghvi.
'As of this moment, we have 1,173 ventilators, 2,695 ICUs and about 10,408 plus isolation beds.' 'But this number keeps changing with every passing hour as we incorporate more private as well as government hospitals in our fight against the pandemic.'
Ahead of the Union Cabinet expansion on Wednesday, several Union Ministers, including Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, Education Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar resigned from their posts.
Chief ministers and other senior leaders made last-minute appeals to voters for their support in Mokama and Gopalganj of Bihar, Adampur of Haryana, Manugoda of Telangana, Gola Gorakhnath of Uttar Pradesh and Dhamnagar of Odisha.
The active cases have surpassed the 12-lakh mark, while the death toll increased to 1,70,179 with 904 daily new fatalities, the highest since October 18, the data updated at 8 am showed.
The recoveries surged to 15,35,743 with a record 54,859 more people recuperating in the past 24 hours, taking the recovery rate to 69.33 per cent. The case fatality rate has dropped to about 2 per cent, the govt said.
Among states and union territories, the analysis by Lahariya showed that Uttar Pradesh missed the highest number of cases. With every case reported in that state, 98 cases were missed or remained undetected.
The country crossed the 12-lakh mark, just three days after it went past the 11-lakh milestone.
The total coronavirus cases mounted to 88,74,290 with 29,163 infections being reported in a day while the death toll climbed to 1,30,519 with 449 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.
The Union health ministry said West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh reported a casualty each on Monday, taking the total number of deaths to nine in the country due to COVID-19.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, a cumulative total of 1,54,28,170 samples have been tested up to July 23 with 3,52,801 samples being tested on Thursday.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan reviewed the status of passengers coming from the UK to India and found positive in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Goa, Punjab, Gujarat and Kerala and their response measures in a meeting held through video conferencing.
The number of active cases dropped to 14,01,609.
The active cases have reduced to 16,35,993 comprising 5.73 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 93.08 per cent.
The ICMR said people having symptoms like fever, cough, sore throat and runny nose and residing in hotspots or cluster areas and in evacuee centres will now be tested for coronavirus infection.
Mumbai, with an estimated population of nearly 20 million, has been testing 1,200-1,400 people per day. Delay in the delivery of rapid antibody test kits has forced the BMC to restrict its testing net.
The death toll mounted to 4,74,735 with the addition of 624 new fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.
Given the robust and statute-based death registration system in India, while some cases could go undetected as per the principles of infectious disease and its management, missing out on the deaths is unlikely, the Union health ministry said.
Experts believe that under-reporting is likely to cause an underestimation of the spread of the disease.
The recovery rate among COVID-19 patients has risen to 66.31 per cent.
The rise in the number of coronavirus cases has gained pace significantly. It took 110 days for the number of cases in the country to reach one lakh but just 53 days more to race past the eight-lakh mark.
The street-fighter attitude is what keeps Rane going even at 69. The expectation is -- at least in the BJP camp -- that he will be itching for a battle royale with the Shiv Sena in its bastions.
