India’s active virus caseload falls to 3.62 percent of total cases
STEADILY following the trend set over the past few weeks, India’s Covid-19 active caseload has fallen to 3.62 per cent of the total cases, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday.
The trend of registering more daily recoveries than the daily cases has led to a continuous contraction of India’s active caseload, which presently stands at 3,56,546 as on date.
While 30,254 persons were found to be Covid-19 positive in the country in a span of 24 hours, 33,136 new recoveries were registered during the same period. This has led to a net decline of 3,273 cases from the total active caseload in a day, the ministry said.
India reported one of the lowest cases per million population in the world (158) in the last seven days; much lower than many other countries of the Western Hemisphere, it underlined.
‘The total recovered cases stand at 93,57,464 as on date. The gap between recoveries and active cases is steadily increasing and it has crossed nine million (90,00,918) as on date,’ the ministry highlighted.
It said 75.23 per cent of the new recovered cases are contributed by 10 states and union territories. Kerala leads with 5,268 persons recovering from Covid-19 while Maharashtra recorded 3,949 recoveries.
Delhi registered another 3,191 daily recoveries. Ten states and union territories- Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat - have contributed 75.71 per cent of the new coronavirus infections.
Kerala reported 5,949 cases in the last 24 hours. Maharashtra registered 4,259 new cases on Saturday while West Bengal recorded 1,935 new cases.
A total of 391 case fatalities have been reported in a day. Around 77.78 per cent of them are from 10 states and union territories.
When compared globally, India recorded one of the lowest new case fatalities per million population in the last seven days.
About 79.28 per cent of the new fatalities reported are from Maharashtra, which reported 80 deaths. Delhi also saw a fatality count of 47 while West Bengal reported 44 new deaths.
When compared globally, India recorded one of the lowest new case fatalities per million population in the last seven days.
The total coronavirus cases mounted to 98,57,029 with 30,254 infections being reported in a day, while the death toll rose to 1,43,019 with 391 new fatalities, data showed.
In a major announcement, Indian IT startup Thalamus Irwine claimed to have developed an Artificial Intelligence and IoT-based solution to complete a sero survey with 10 million samples of Covid-19 cases within a week.
The Delhi-based company has partnered with state-run ITI to host its data and also done a proof of concept with the public sector firm.
‘We have developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) based system to analyse samples tested for COVID-19 within a few microseconds. We connect our AI-Internet of Things (IoT) platform, Garuda, with our partner device that analyses data in real time. Through our technology, we can conduct sero survey with 1 crore actual samples in a week,’ Thalamus Irwine chairman Rishabh Sharma told.
Sero survey or Seroprevalence studies are based on analysis of antibodies collected through blood sample collection.
Sharma said that data can be extrapolated over a large population and understand the movement of coronavirus across the country.
‘The antibodies test shows if a person is infected with the virus or had been infected in the past. It can help in detection of exposure of Covid-19 in asymptomatic people as well. This survey can be used for prioritising vaccine distribution as well,’ Sharma said.
The company has partnered with Korean biotechnology firm Boditech Med Incorporated for hardware that can be deployed for conducting the test using blood samples.
Sharma said that Thalamus Irwine technology converted Boditech’s device into an IoT device and linked it back to the AI platform for analysis of data collected within a few microseconds.
‘We are also in talks with some other companies to link their device with our Garuda platform,’ Sharma said.
ITI claims Thalamus Irwine to be the world’s fastest Covid-19 sero survey. The data collected by Thalamus Irwine will be hosted on ITI data centres.
Meanwhile, seeking to allay apprehension of people over safety and efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines, noted clinical scientist Gagandeep Kang said that though vaccines for the coronavirus are being developed in a short period of time, there has been absolutely no compromise in their clinical testing.
Kang, who is associated with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness, a global consortium involved in facilitating vaccine candidates for the novel coronavirus, also said that there should be equitable Covid-19 vaccine access globally and domestically.
Known for her inter-disciplinary research on transmission, development and prevention of infections and their sequelae in children in India, Kang is also the first Indian woman to be inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society in London.
Though vaccines for the coronavirus are being developed in a “very short period of time”, all clinical phases of testing are being done, she told in an interview.
‘What has changed is the approach to the testing where all steps that used to happen between phases of clinical trials have been cut out, which means regulators are working much longer and harder than they ever have before,’ Kang said.