People are talking about the third wave of coronavirus as casually as a "weather update", the government said on Tuesday, noting that "gross violations" of Covid-appropriate behaviour being seen in several parts of the country can nullify the gains made so far in pandemic management.
You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here. A list of State Helpline numbers is available as well.
Here are the latest updates:
India records 38,792 fresh Covid cases, 624 deaths
India recorded 38,792 new coronavirus cases, taking the infection tally to 3,09,46,074, while the death toll reached 4,11,408 with 624 more fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry's data updated on Wednesday.
The active cases have declined to 4,29,946 and comprise 1.39 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 97.28 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.
A decrease of 2,832 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. - PTI
Over 1.51 crore unutilised vaccine doses available with states, private hospitals: Centre
More than 1.51 crore balance and unutilised COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states, UTs and private hospitals to be administered, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
Over 39.59 crore vaccine doses have been provided to states and UTs so far through all sources and a further 30,250 doses are in the pipeline.
Of this, the total consumption including wastage is 38,07,68,770 doses, the ministry said. - PTI
Vaccination declines by 60% as States say they have no doses
The weekly pace of vaccination has declined to nearly 60% of what was seen in the week after June 21, when the Centre entirely took over vaccine procurement from the States. The slackening has resulted in several States complaining of a shortage and an inability to cater to demand.
On June 21, the first day of the new policy, nearly 91 lakh doses were administered and until June 27, about 4 crore were administered. While the week after didn’t match up, the period from July 5-July 11 has seen only 2.3 crore doses dispensed. So far about 38 crore vaccines have been administered since the drive commenced in January.
Uttarakhand suspends Kanwar Yatra
Uttarakhand has decided to suspend this year's Kanwar Yatra in view of the COVID-19 situation, “giving top priority to the protection of human life”. The decision was taken by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami following a meeting with senior State officials on Tuesday evening.
“A detailed discussion was held on the occurrence of the Delta Plus variant of COVID, the possibility of a third wave and its effects in the country and abroad. The opinion of experts in this regard was also considered,” said an official statement issued after the meeting.
Mr. Dhami directed that officials of neighbouring States should also be requested to coordinate and take effective action so that they can be successful in stopping the pandemic.