NEW DELHI: In a significant decline in the COVID-19 cases, India on Tuesday reported 1,96,427 new coronavirus cases, taking the tally in the country to 2,69,48,874. Meanwhile, 3,511 new fatalities were also reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total death tally to 3,07,231, the Union Health Ministry informed.
This is the first time that official data has recorded less than 2 lakh cases in a day since 15 April.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), the country recorded 3,26,850 fresh recoveries in the last 24 hours, outnumbering new cases.
The cumulative COVID caseload in India now stands at 2,69,48,874 including 25,86,782 active cases. This is the eighth consecutive day when India has recorded less than 3 lakh new cases.
According to the Union Health Ministry data, there are currently 25,86,782 active cases across the country, while 2,40,54,861 patients have been discharged so far, with 3,26,850 discharges reported in the last 24 hours.
As per the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 33,25,94,176 samples have been tested for COVID-19 up to May 22. Of them, 20,58,112 samples were tested on Monday.
On Monday, Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan gave a snapshot of India’s efforts to contain COVID-19 at the outset by saying, “Today is the 11th day in succession where our number of recoveries is more than the number of new cases. This is also the 8th day in succession where we are having less than 3 lakh daily new cases. This is a positive sign. Right now, our active cases in the country are 27 lakhs. A couple of weeks back, we had over 37 lakh active cases.”
Expressing his grief that each death is tragic, he cautioned on the high number of fatalities being reported.
Speaking on vaccines and clinical intervention, Dr. Harsh Vardhan observed, “We have already given 19.6 crore doses to our countrymen. Over 60 lakh doses are still with the states and further 21 lakh doses are in the pipeline.”
He noted that the Union Government has already sent over 70 lakh Remdesivir vialsand 45,735 ventilators to states/UTs.On Genome Sequencing, the Union Health Minister Informed that 25,739 samples have been sequenced and variant B.1.617 has been found in 5,261 samples, making it the most common mutation detected till now. He also informed that states have been requested to send samples regularly for better analysis.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan appreciated the coordination between Centre and the States in flagging emerging cases of Mucormycosis, popularly called ‘Black Fungus’. 5424 cases have been reported from 18 states with the most number of cases being reported from Gujarat and Maharashtra. Out of these, 4556 cases have a history of Covid-19 infection while the rest are non-COVID cases.
55% of the affected had diabetes. “9 lakh vials of Amphotericin-B are being imported by the Central government for treatment of Black Fungus. Of this, 50,000 vials have been received and around 3 lakh vials will be available in the next 7 days”, he added.
The Union Health Minister also highlighted the implementation of the SoPs of Union Govt. on COVID management in peri-urban/urban/tribal areas. These are being actively pursued and monitored regularly by Health Ministry in the State review meetings.
Bureau Report
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