Covid-19: India reports 50,040 new cases, 1,258 deaths

India on Sunday reported 50,040 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, according to data from the Union Health Ministry — a rise from its spike of 48,698 new cases a day ago. Kerala reported 12,118 new cases, while Maharashtra recorded 9,812.

As many as 1,258 new fatalities were also recorded in the same duration, reports The Indian Express.

The number of active Covid-19 cases in India has declined to 5,95,565 or 2.03 per cent of the total cases. As many as 2,91,93,085 patients have been cured of Covid-19 till now, with 64,818 of them being discharged in the last 24 hours alone.

Delta Plus variant of coronavirus, which several experts say is more infectious, needs to be addressed with vaccination and safety measures such as wearing face masks, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) representative to Russia Melita Vujnovic has said.

“Vaccination plus masks, because just a vaccine is not enough with ‘Delta.’ We need to make an effort over a short period of time, otherwise there would be a lockdown,” Vujnovic said on the live YouTube show, according to news agency ANI.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed satisfaction at an increased pace of Covid vaccination this week and said that it was important to keep this up and also underlined a need to involve NGOs and other organisations in order to expand the drive, PTI reported. PM Modi, while taking stock of the progress of the immunisation programme, also directed the officials to work closely with states to ensure that the speed of testing does not go down as testing remains a very important tool to track and contain rising infections in any region.