Two United States Senators, a former adviser to US President Donald Trump, his campaign manager and three White House journalists have tested positive for COVID-19, joining several officials working at the presidential palace to have contracted the infection.
The positivity rate dipped to 0.12 per cent.
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.
It also said that an average of 11.5 lakh tests for detection of coronavirus infection were done on a daily basis during the past 10 days. From merely one in January 2020, India's total tests for detection of COVID-19 have crossed 7.89 crore so far. There has been a commensurate dip in the COVID-19 positivity rate, it said.
The total coronavirus cases mounted to 49,30,236, while the death toll climbed to 80,776 with 1,054 people succumbing to the disease in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.
The former Maharashtra chief minister in his letter pointed out the high mortality rate in the state and alleged that the Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress government was neglecting Vidarbha, Marathwada and North Maharashtra in the fight against the pandemic.
This is the sixth consecutive day that COVID-19 cases have increased by more than 45,000.
According to a doctor unless the virus is cultured or gene sequencing done, it will be difficult to determine whether it is a different strain of the virus that has infected the person the second time.
The recoveries have mounted to 11,45,629, while there are 5,67,730 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country presently.
The number of recoveries has surged to 14,80,884 with 53,879 coronavirus patients having recuperated and discharged in 24-hours, the highest in a day so far.
As many as 29,557 COVID-19 patients have recuperated in the past 24 hours.
In view of a persistent rise in COVID-19 cases, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Tuesday ordered that there will be no public celebrations in the national capital for upcoming festivals such Holi and Navaratri. Considering the rise in COVID-19 cases, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) also announced that Holi celebrations, on March 28 and 29, will not be permitted in both private or public places.
The Centre on Saturday strongly advised 12 states and Union Territories reporting a surge in coronavirus cases to significantly increase testing and ensure people follow COVID-appropriate behaviour, noting that one infected person could spread infection to an average of 406 individuals in a 30-day window without restrictions.
While Delhi reported 19,486 Covid cases in the last 24 hours, Maharashtra logged 63,729 infections.
Amid a scare about the spread of the Omicron variant, Delhi recorded 331 fresh coronavirus cases on Monday, the highest single-day rise since June 9, and one death in the past 24 hours, while the positivity rate mounted to 0.68 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department.
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With 1,209 new deaths reported across the country, the toll due to the disease stands at 76,271.
There are 8,97,394 active cases of COVID-19, which is 20.53 per cent of the total caseload in the country, the data stated.
The COVID-19 case fatality rate due to the coronavirus infection stands at 1.7 per cent.
With the fresh cases, India's COVID-19 tally rose to 22.68 lakh, while the recoveries have surged to 15,83,489, pushing the recovery rate to 69.80 per cent.
The average daily recovered cases are now more than 55,000 and active cases are just 25 per cent of the total COVID cases.
Counting of votes began on Sunday for lakhs of panchayat seats in Uttar Pradesh, a process expected to take two days across 829 centres. There were scuffles involving the supporters of candidates in three districts and social distancing to fight the spread of coronavirus went for a toss at several places, reports said.
The recovery rate among COVID-19 patients has risen to 66.31 per cent.
The states were advised to conduct surveillance and report district-wise severe acute respiratory illness and influenza-like illness cases on a daily basis and also to send these for genome sequencing to the mapped INSACOG laboratories.
The Indian Medical Association states that cases are likely to rise further before coming down in Kerala as about 50 per cent of its population is still susceptible to the virus.
Dr Rai, who is also a principal investigator of the Bharat Biotech Covaxin clinical trial at AIIMS, said that COVID-19 preventive measures like wearing masks, hand hygiene should be followed till there is an effective vaccine.
The total coronavirus cases rose to 35,42,733, while the death toll climbed to 63,498 with 948 people succumbing to the disease in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.
The number of active cases remained below 5 lakh for the ninth consecutive day.
We have no standard processes in place to address the more serious public health hazard of our lifetime, observes Aakar Patel.
The spending on a typical RT-PCR test would take up 23 per cent of the monthly income of an average Indian, compared to 2 per cent in China. This is one of the deepest cuts in the pocket of an individual, in comparison to 14 other countries, reports Abhishek Waghmare.
Focused implementation of 'test, track, treat' strategy by the Union and state and Union Territory governments, ramped up hospital infrastructure and testing facilities, and emphasis on treatment of the hospitalised patients through the standard of care protocol advised by the Centre have effectively ensured that mortality of COVID-19 patients is contained, the ministry said.
The COVID-19 case fatality rate due to the coronavirus infection has further dropped to 1.66 per cent.
There are 8,15,538 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country.
While there is a continuous increasing trend in COVID-19 cases and deaths globally, particularly in America and Europe and the situation in the world is becoming worrisome, in contrast the scene in India is satisfying as the cases and deaths are declining, Dr V K Paul, member (health) at NITI Aayog, told a press conference.
The Manipal Hospital where the 77-year-old leader is admitted said he was "doing well" and "clinically stable."
The second phase of Covid-19 vaccination in India will begin from March ,1 in which people above 60 years of age and those above 45 years of age with comorbidities will be vaccinated, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Wednesday.
Mumbai on Friday recorded 20, 971 new coronavirus infections, the highest one-day spike to date, while Delhi registered the highest single-day spike too with the national capital reporting 17,335 new infections, highest since May 8 last year
According to the latest health department bulletin, the positivity rate has also jumped to 9.55 per cent, amid the festive season and the rise in pollution level.
In a massive surge, Delhi on Thursday recorded 15,097 fresh COVID cases, the highest single-day rise since May 8, and six deaths while the positivity rate mounted to 15.34 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department.
The expert noted that in India the pandemic is unlikely to be over in the months to come, and the number of people getting infected will continue to rise.
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