India reported 22,752 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total so far to 7,42,417, government data shows. The number of death has risen to 20,642 with 482 deaths in the last 24 hours. A total of 4,56,831 have recovered and the recovery rate is 61.53 per cent. The rate of patients testing positive is 8.66 per cent. Maharashtra, the state with the highest number of COVID-19 cases in India, reported 5,134 new cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 217,121. Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation or WHO has said it would study fresh evidence on airborne transmission of the coronavirus, after an international group of scientists concluded it could spread far beyond two metres.
Dharavi, a coronavirus cluster in Mumbai that is 2.5 sqkm wide and packs nearly 6.5 lakh people reported just one fresh case on Tuesday, inching closer toward flattening the curve even as Mumbai continues to see a steady growth in COVID-19 figures.
Mumbai reported 785 new cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total in the city to 86,509; 64 deaths were reported during the same period, taking the total number of deaths over 5,000. The city, however, saw slowing in the number of new cases, which the authorities say is a good sign.
The Assam chapter of the Indian Medical Association or IMA has written to state Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, urging the health department not to take “whimsical decisions”. The IMA expressed “immense resentment” over recent changes in the policy to manage the COVID-19 situation.
“IMA strongly protests the government’s order of engaging health workers and doctors in 11 days’ continuous service in the COVID wards and thereafter only three days of quarantine before re-engaging them in COVID duties subject to testing negative for the disease,” the IMA said in the letter.
The WHO said it would put out a new scientific brief within days, rounding up the knowledge about how the virus can be transmitted and ensuring its guidance stays in line with the evidence.
The two-metre physical distancing guideline has been a major factor in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the coronavirus can spread through the air far beyond two metres, a group of 239 international scientists said Monday.
India’s recovered cases per million population is more than active COVID-19 cases per million, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday, crediting states and Union Territories for early identification and effective management of coronavirus cases.
Approval for human clinical trials for two made-in-India COVID-19 vaccine candidates – COVAXIN and ZyCov-D – marks the “beginning of the end” for the novel coronavirus pandemic that has infected over 1.12 crore people worldwide and left more than 5.3 lakh dead, the centre said last week.
Phase I trials for COVAXIN, which was developed in association with the ICMR, are scheduled to be completed in 28 days – which would put the vaccine candidate on track for an August 15 release.
The country’s COVID-19 tally went past seven lakh on Tuesday, with a single-day spike of 22,252 infections, five days after crossing the six lakh-mark.
