COVID-19: India reports 1,685 new cases, 83 more fatalities
India on Friday reported over 1,600 new COVID-19 cases, a decline of over 250 cases from the previous day. The active caseload in the country currently stands at 21,530, which accounts for 0.05% of the total cases so far. In the past 24 hours, a total of 1,685 new cases and 83 fatalities were reported. Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 98.75%.
Why does this story matter?
India on Friday reported fewer COVID-19 cases than the day before. Notably, India's active caseload and positivity rates have been witnessing a steady decline over the past few weeks. This comes after India witnessed a massive spurt in coronavirus infections in December-end and at the beginning of January. The spike in cases—dubbed India's third wave—was attributed to the Omicron variant.
Nearly 2,500 patients discharged
According to data shared by the Union Health Ministry, India reported a total of 4,30,16,372 COVID-19 cases till Friday morning, while the cumulative death count reached 5,16,755. With 2,499 fresh discharges, the number of total recoveries in the country climbed to 4,24,78,087. Meanwhile, the daily and the weekly positivity rates were recorded at 0.24% and 0.33%, respectively.
Kerala adds most new cases
Maharashtra reported 139 new COVID-19 cases along with 255 more recoveries. Kerala, the second worst-hit state after Maharashtra, reported 558 new cases and 773 discharges. The third worst-hit Karnataka added 109 fresh cases and 117 recoveries. Tamil Nadu, the fourth worst-hit state, witnessed 41 new cases and 71 discharges. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh reported 39 new cases and 45 recoveries.
India's second wave peaked on May 7
India's second wave peaked on May 7, 2021, when 4.14 lakh single-day cases were reported, over four times the number of cases reported during the first wave in mid-September 2020. Although infections declined after the second wave peaked, India crossed the three-crore mark on June 23. The country crossed the one-crore mark on December 19, 2020, and the two-crore mark on May 4, 2021.
Over 182 crore vaccine doses administered
As of Friday morning, India has administered over 182.55 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. Overall, over 82.44 crore people have been fully vaccinated, while more than 97.97 crore people have received one dose. On Friday alone, India administered over 1.9 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses till 10:00 am, including over 69,000 second doses and more than 1,00,000 first doses, according to Co-WIN.
2.1 crore 'precautionary' doses administered
Moreover, India has administered over 2.1 crore "precautionary" doses since January 10. On Friday, over 3,900 healthcare/frontline workers and more than 19,000 elderly people were given the precautionary dose till 10 am.
EU drug watchdog approves AstraZeneca's COVID-19 prevention jab 'Evusheld'
Meanwhile, the European Union's drug watchdog on Thursday recommended approval for AstraZeneca's COVID-19 prevention cocktail "Evusheld." Evusheld can be used for patients with immune system issues or severe reactions to other coronavirus vaccines. Evusheld consists of two monoclonal antibodies tixagevimab and cilgavimab—proteins that can attack the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19—at two different sites, said the European Medicines Agency.
