India’s active cases have dipped to 27,20716 and the recovery rate has improved to 88.69 percent.
Bengaluru: India recorded 2.2 lakh fresh Covid cases taking the overall count to 2.67 crore. 4,454 people died in the last 24 hours taking the total number of deaths to 3,03,720.
Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan and Karnataka have extended the lockdown to curb the spread of the virus. Tamil Nadu imposed a stricter lockdown from today as it recorded 35,483 Covid cases. Maharashtra recorded 26,672 cases, Karnataka reported 25,979 infections, Kerala recorded 25,820 infections and Andhra Pradesh reported 18,767 cases. Uttar Pradesh and these five states have recorded the highest overall cases in the country.
India’s average positivity rate is 11.53 percent and the government on Sunday said over 20 lakh samples were tested in the span of five days.
A Press release by the Government states that a total of 19,50,04,184 vaccine doses have been administered through 28,00,808 sessions according to the provisional report till 7 am on May 23, 2021. Around 97 lakh Health Care Workers have taken the first dose and 67,00,614 health care workers have taken the second dose, 1,49,52,345 Front Line Workers have taken the first dose, 83,26,534 Front Line Workers have taken the second dose.
The National Mortality rate stands at 1.13 percent as ten states account for 73.88 percent of new deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (682) and Karnataka followed with 451 daily deaths.
India becomes the third country after Brazil and the United States to record over 3 lakh deaths due to Covid. Over 90,000 deaths and around 80 lakh cases have been reported this month until now.
As the number of cases of black fungus, or Mucormycosis, continues to rise in the region. According to a press release the central government has granted five more companies licences to produce drugs for the disease. Amphotericin B, the anti-infection drug, was produced in the country until now by five firms, Bharat Serum and Vaccines Ltd, BDR Pharmaceuticals, Sun Pharma, Cipla, and Life Care Innovation .
NATCO Pharmaceuticals, Alembic Pharmaceuticals, Gufic Bioscience, Emcure Pharmaceuticals, and Lyka are the five new firms that have received licences from the government. The decision was made to ensure that there is no shortage of this vaccine for the treatment of black fungus in the country.
With inputs from Anusha Ramesh and Anusha Bose.
