Daily Covid-19 deaths, cases rise in India

India recorded 46,164 new Covid-19 cases over the last 24 hours - a 22 per cent jump - while deaths from Covid-19 rose by 607.

The country's overall caseload now stands at 3.25 crore, while total fatalities are at 4.36 lakhs, according to the government, reports NDTV.

The daily positivity rate remains less than 3 per cent for the last 31 days and is presently at 2.58 per cent. Active cases constitute 1.03 per cent of total cases, the lowest since March 2020, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate stands 97.63 per cent, the Union Health Ministry said.

India has administered over 60 crore doses of the anti-coronavirus vaccines so far, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted Thursday.

India is now only behind China in terms of the number of doses administered so far, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins. At the current rate of vaccination, 32 per cent of the population will be vaccinated by the year-end.

Children between the age of 12 to 17 years will be vaccinated against Covid-19 in October, chief of the advisory group of immunization said.

Dr NK Arora, Chief of National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI), also said that chances of children facing serious health complications due to the virus were very unlikely as he suggested reopening of schools.

Dr Arora's comments come amid concerns that the third wave is more likely to affect children more than adults. A report by the National Institute of Disaster Management, which operates under the Home Ministry, has cited "cause for worry, if not panic" so long as children remain unvaccinated and existing medical facilities remain inadequate.

ZyCoV-D, the indigenously developed world's first DNA-based needle-free Covid-19 vaccine, has received Emergency Use Authorisation on August 20 making it the first vaccine to be administered in the age group of 12-18 years, in addition to adults in the country.

India should now focus on vaccinating as many people as possible to curb the spread of Covid and the idea of booster doses can wait, AIIMS chief Randeep Guleria said.

The AIIMS chief also said that Sero Survey suggested that there may not be as many Covid cases in a likely third Covid wave if vaccinations continue in strength.

Covid-19 patients are dying in US hospitals at levels not seen since February, the US Department of Health and Human Services said, warning that the numbers could worsen as intensive-care units overflow in parts of the South.

Coronavirus cases worldwide have surpassed the 200 million mark. Cases are rising in about one-third of the world's countries, many of which have not even given half their population a first dose.