Coronavirus India Updates: Daily Covid Toll Falls Below 300 For First Time In Six Months
The seven-day rolling average of daily Covid-19 cases in India has fallen below the 25,000-mark.
India’s active Covid-19 cases continued to decline even as the festive season and concerns of the new and more infectious strain of the virus from the U.K. forced new restrictions across various cities and states.
The country reported more than 22,000 fresh Covid-19 infections in the last 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry’s update at 8 a.m. on Dec. 26. The daily death toll fell below 300 for the first time since June 9, as 251 fatalities were recorded on Christmas day. Active cases have fallen below the 2.9-lakh mark.
Key Figures
- Total number of confirmed coronavirus cases: 1,01,69,118
- Active cases: 2,81,667
- Cured/discharged/migrated: 97,40,108
- Deaths: 1,47,343
- Number of fresh cases in 24 hours: 22,273
- One-day recoveries: 22,274
- One-day deaths: 251
The recovery rate has improved to 95.77% on Friday. The cumulative recovered cases stand at 0.97 crores (97,17,834). The gap between the recovered and active cases is also steadily increasing and presently stands at 94,35,915.Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Several Indian states and cities have re-imposed some lockdown restrictions amid year-end festivities to ensure that infections remain in check. Besides, a new, more infectious variant of coronavirus, detected first in the U.K., has renewed fears about another wave of Covid-19 in the country. India has already cancelled all flights to and from the U.K. till at least Dec. 31.
Maharashtra has imposed a night curfew across all civic corporations from restricting movement between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Karnataka imposed a night curfew but has now withdrawn that order. Punjab, too, lifted its night curfew on Thursday night for Christmas eve. States have also started putting in institutional quarantine for travellers who may have returned from the U.K.
Global Update:
Globally, cases crossed 79.6 million leaving over 1.75 million dead.
Australian authorities extended a lockdown for Sydney’s Northern Beaches as a cluster of Covid cases grows. Pope Francis used his Christmas Day message to appeal for world leaders to share vaccines.
Hospitalizations in New York City continued to rise and the rate of positive tests showed no sign of slowing. In Boston, a doctor reportedly suffered a severe allergic reaction after taking Moderna’s vaccine.
President Donald Trump is expected to sign an order Friday forcing anyone flying from the U.K. to the U.S. to have a negative Covid-19 test within 72 hours of boarding. France, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland and Japan joined a growing number of countries that have identified their first cases of the coronavirus mutation, although there’s no clear evidence it results in more severe cases of the disease.
Track all news and developments around the outbreak in India here.
UK Returnee Tests COVID-19 Positive In Aurangabad
A woman, who had returned to Aurangabad in Maharashtra from the U.K. in the last few weeks, has tested coronavirus positive, officials said on Saturday.
The woman is among the 44 persons who arrived in the district from the U.K. after November 25, they said. "Eleven of these U.K. returnees underwent RT-PCR test, in which the woman was found infected with COVID-19. She is asymptomatic," Aurangabad Municipal Corporation's (AMC) health officer Dr Neeta Padalkar said. Nine have tested negative for the infection, while report of another one is awaited, the official added.
"Of these 44 passengers, 13 are yet to be traced and their details are shared with the police department. Five of the passengers belong to other districts," the official said.
After a new variant of coronavirus was detected in the U.K., the Union government had instructed the authorities to trace the passengers who arrived in India from there between November 25 and December 23.
U.K. Returned Travelers Under Scanner
In the ongoing door-to-door contact drive being conducted by the Delhi government to test UK-returned persons for the prevalence of COVID-19, eight have so far been found infected with the coronavirus, officials said on Friday.
A total of 19 passengers out of over 13,000 who landed from the UK at the IGI airport here between November 25 and December 21 have been found positive for the virus.
Eleven were tested positive at the airport while eight others were found positive during the door to door contact and testing drive being carried out in all the districts of the city, said a top Delhi government source.
