Testing crosses 1cr as Delhi, Mumbai situation improves

On Monday, as India crossed the major milestone of one crore tests to detect coronavirus among its population, it also neared seven lakh cases and close to 20,000 deaths. With a high number of cases now from new areas like Telangana, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh too reporting over 1,000 cases daily, India till Monday morning had 24,248 new cases and 425 more deaths, taking its total count to 6,97,413 and the death toll to 19,693.

While Maharashtra (6,555) and Tamil Nadu (4,150) show a rising count, Delhi has started showing signs of improvement. While the overall cases in Delhi on Monday was shown as 1,00,823, fresh cases fell significantly to 1,379 detected in 13,879 tests. Delhi had 48 deaths Monday out of a total 3,115. Mumbai also shows signs of improvement as the city saw 1,201 cases and 39 deaths.

While the overall testing in India crossed one crore, health experts want more testing by states, continuing the “test, trace, treat” strategy. In the last 24 hours, 3,46,459 samples were tested, the health ministry said.

The number of recovered cases on Monday morning was 4,24,432 and 15,350 persons were discharged in the last 24 hours. This takes the nationwide Covid-19 recovery rate to 60.86 per cent. There are 2,53,287 active cases, all under medical supervision,” the health ministry added.

Phase I human clinical trials for India’s first Covid-19 vaccine candidate Covaxin is expected to start next week. Over 1,100 people are likely to be enrolled in the first two phases of trials.

Several scientists have, meanwhile, said Covid-19 is an airborne infection and smaller particles in the air can infect people, urging WHO to revise its recommendations.