Coronavirus News LIVE Updates: With 2,451 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, India’s total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 4,30,52,425, while the active cases increased to 14,241, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.
The death toll climbed to 5,22,116 with 54 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated. The active cases comprise 0.03 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded as 98.75 per cent, the ministry said. An increase of 808 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
On Thursday, Gautam Buddh Nagar recorded 103 new cases of COVID-19 as the district accounted for over 50 per cent of the active infections in Uttar Pradesh, official data showed. According to data issued by the state health department, the number of active cases in Gautam Buddh Nagar stood at 467 while the total number of active infections in Uttar Pradesh was 856. Meanwhile, 47 people recuperated from COVID-19 in the district on Thursday.
Delhi logged 965 fresh Covid cases in a day with a positivity rate of 4.71 per cent while one more person succumbed to the infection, according to data shared by the health department on Thursday. A total of 20,480 tests were conducted in the city a day ago, it stated.
Delhi had reported one death and 1,009 fresh Covid cases on Wednesday, the maximum since February 10, with a positivity rate of 5.7 per cent. On Tuesday, the city had reported 632 cases with a positivity rate of 4.42 per cent. A day before, Delhi logged 501 cases with a positivity rate of 7.72 per cent.
Meanwhile, Nepal on Thursday urged its citizens to follow health safety protocols in view of the risk of coronavirus infection in the country following an “increasing trend” of Covid cases in neighbouring countries, including India. In a press release issued by the health ministry, spokesperson Sangeeta Kaushal Mishra said that though the number of Covid infections seems to have somewhat decreased in Nepal, the risk of the disease is still prevalent.
On the vaccination front, vaccine inequity remains an issue both within India, where less than 2 per cent of the population has received a Covid booster, and the globe with 56 countries unable to inoculate even 10 percent of their people, as per a Johns Hopkins scientist, Amita Gupta. Tracking hospitalisation rates which provide an indicator of severity of illness is key, the chief of the Division of Infectious Disease, and Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine said while stressing that no one is safe from Covid until everyone in the world gets vaccinated.
Global vaccine inequity remains an issue both within India and globally. For example, in the continent of Africa less than 20 per cent of the population is currently vaccinated and there are countries in Africa still with less than 2 per cent vaccinated, Gupta told.