Covid update: At 91,700, India sees decline in new cases, 3,403 deaths in 24 hours
Premium- As many as 20,44,131 samples were tested on Tuesday
- The death toll in the country has breached 3.60 lakh
After rising for two days straight, the number of new Covid-19 cases saw a slight decline on Friday.
As many as 91,702 people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative caseload to 2,92,74,823, said the Union health ministry.
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New cases had reached 94,052 the day before.
The number of new fatalities has jumped above the 3,000-mark once again with 3,403 more people succumbing to the disease. With this, the death toll in the country has reached 3,63,079.
With Bihar revising its data, the death toll in India had surged to 3,59,676 on Thursday. The state added 3,951 backlog fatalities to its toll after the Patna High Court last month flagged irregularities.
On the other hand, the number of recoveries that were once nearing 3 lakh a day seems to be slowing down as well.
India saw 1,34,580 people getting discharged after recuperating from Covid-19 between Thursday and Friday. This took the total number of discharges to 2,77,90,073.
As a result, active cases now rest at 1121671, declining by 46,281.
Tests conducted so far
India has tested 37,42,42,384 samples for Covid-19 until now, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Out of these, 20,44,131 samples were tested on Tuesday. As many as 20,04,690 tests were carried out in the preceding 24-hour period.
Vaccination in India
The country has so far administered 24,60,85,649 anti-Covid jabs. Among these, 32,74,672 shots were given in the last 24 hours, according to the health ministry.
The central government has asked states to focus on increasing the coverage of the second dose among healthcare workers (HCW) and frontline workers (FLW).
According to Thursday's data, the national average for the administration of the first dose among HCWs is 82% and the national average for the second dose is only 56%.
As many as 18 states and union territories, including Punjab, Maharashtra, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Assam, have coverage below the national average in this aspect.
For FLWs, the national average of first dose coverage is 85% but of the second dose is only 47%.
Health experts on vaccination
A group of public health experts, including doctors from AIIMS and members from the national task force on Covid-19, have told the central government that is no need to vaccinate people who had contracted the virus.
According to their recommendations, the people who have recovered from Covid may be vaccinated after generating evidence that the vaccine is beneficial after a natural infection.
Further, they have said that mass, indiscriminate and incomplete vaccination can trigger the emergence of mutant strains.
They said that vaccinating the vulnerable and those at risk, instead of mass population-wide inoculation including children, should be the aim at present.
"Mass, indiscriminate, and incomplete vaccination can also trigger emergence of mutant strains. Given the rapid transmission of infection in various parts of the country, it is unlikely that mass vaccination of all adults will catch up with the pace of natural infection among our young population," they said in the report.
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