Covid cases inch towards 52 lakh-mark in India

Dr Harsh Vardhan says vaccines can be expected by the beginning of next year

India again recorded a huge spike in Coronavirus cases with 97,894 new detections taking the country’s overall tally to

51.18 lakh as per Union health ministry.

However, the numbers were close to 51.50 lakh by late on Thursday evening according to data from

covid19india.org.

Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan told the Rajya Sabha that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been personally monitoring the Covid-19 situation and added vaccines can be expected in the country by the beginning of next year.

“India has been registering very high recoveries for the two consecutive days as 82,961 active cases were found free of Covid in the last 24 hours. Spurred by this number of very high recoveries, the national Recovery Rate continues to follow its rising curve. It stands at 78.64% on Thursday,” health ministry officials said.

As many as 40.25 lakh patients have recovered so far while the number of active cases are almost

10.10 lakh.

“These high levels of recovery have resulted in a

100% increase in the number of recovered cases in the past 30 days,” officials said. Close to half (48.45%) of the active cases are concentrated in three states — Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Together with Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu these five states contribute nearly 60% of the total active cases.

Maharashtra (17,559) contributed over one-fifth of the new recoveries

(21.22%) while Andhra Pradesh (10,845), Kar-nataka (6,580), Uttar Pradesh

(6,476) and Tamil Nadu (5,768) contributed

35.87% of the new recoveries. These states together account for 57.1% of the total new recoveries.

As far as deaths are concerned, 1,132 fatalities were reported in the past 24 hours, taking total deaths in the country due to the virus to 83,198, the health ministry said.

With 474 new cases of mortality, Maharashtra accounted for more than

40% of the new deaths while Uttar Pradesh (86), Punjab (78), Andhra Pradesh (64), West Bengal

(61) contributed 25.5% of the fatalities in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, in view of increasing coronavirus cases, the Mumbai police have extended prohibitory orders restricting movement of people in the city till September 30.

“The order issued under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is a mere extension of our previous order (issued on 31st August) and no new-fresh restrictions have been imposed,” said city police commissioner Param Bir Singh.

Social distancing (minimum six feet between two persons) must be followed in public places, the orders said.

“All movements of one or more persons in the area designated as Containment Zone by municipal authorities is prohibited, except for essential activities, supply of essential goods and medical emergencies,” the orders stated.

All movements of one or more persons in the city is prohibited, except for medical emergencies and emergency duties, government-semi government agencies and their officials on duty, the orders said, before listing further exemptions.