India logs 34k virus cases, lowest in 4 months
INDIA logged 34,703 new Covid-19 cases over the past 24 hours on Tuesday, its lowest in 111 days as a second wave of the pandemic appears to be on the wane.
The overall caseload climbed to over 30.6 million, the world’s second-highest number of coronavirus infections after the United States.
Daily infections were at the lowest since March 17 when India logged 35, 71 cases, according to the federal Health Ministry as well as data on the website of the Johns Hopkins University.
The daily numbers represent a sharp slowdown from the peak of the second wave in early May when India was registering over 400,000 cases every day.
The country also reported 553 deaths over the last 24 hours, a significant drop from the 773 deaths recorded a day earlier.
India’s daily positivity rate - that indicates the number of people testing positive for every 100 tests - stands at 2.11 per cent, less than 3 per cent for the 15th straight day, the ministry said.
With 62 percent of high positivity districts in India’s north-east states, the region is emerging as a new health concern in the fight against the pandemic, broadcaster NDTV reported.
India’s main challenge remains vaccinating its 1.3 billion-plus population amid the threat of a possible third wave.
The country is managing around 4 million vaccinations every day, far short of the .6 million daily vaccinations required to inoculate 60 per cent of its adult population by December, the NDTV report said.
So far only 5 percent of India’s population has been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.