Coronavirus India Update: Tally Tops 75 Lakh Even As Active Cases Drop
Track the latest updates on the Covid-19 pandemic in India, here.
Coronavirus cases continue to rise, even though at a slower pace, with the total tally over the 75-lakh mark now.
India reported over 55,000cases in 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry’s update at 8 a.m. on Oct. 19. The total tally includes nearly 66 lakh recoveries and over 1.14 lakh deaths.
The slower pace of daily infections and an improved recovery rate has pushed active cases in India below the 8 lakh mark for three consecutive days. India's active caseload had crossed 10 lakh in mid-September.
Key figures:
- Total number of confirmed coronavirus cases: 75,50,273
- Active cases: 7,72,055
- Cured/discharged/migrated: 66,63,608
- Deaths: 1,14,610
- Fresh cases in 24 hours: 55,722
- One-day recoveries: 66,399
- One-day deaths: 579
The one day deaths are lowest since July 19.
The fatality rate remains low when compared to other countries at 1.52%. Recoveries make up for more than 88% of the Covid-19 pie.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Sunday said community transmission of the coronavirus infection is restricted to certain districts in a limited number of states, clarifying that "this is not happening across the country".
He was responding to a question from a participant, who cited West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's remark that there are instances of community transmission in her state and asked the minister which are the states that have witnessed community transmission of the disease.
"In different pockets across various states, including West Bengal, community transmission of Covid-19 is expected to occur, especially in densely-populated areas.
Global Update
Global coronavirus cases are approaching the 40 million mark, as infections sweep across Europe and cases in U.S. and India average more than 50,000 a day. Millions of Europeans are facing tighter restrictions on movement, with London and Paris enforcing tighter curbs.
Globally, cases surged past 39.8 million with over 1.1 million dead.
Track the latest updates on the Covid-19 pandemic in India, here.
Antibodies Fade Quickly In Recovering Covid-19 Patients, Study Finds
Antibody levels in the blood of Covid-19 patients drop rapidly during the weeks after their bodies have cleared the novel coronavirus, and symptoms have subsided, according to a study.
In the absence of approved, effective treatments for Covid-19, some hospitals have been treating patients with severe symptoms with blood plasma from recovering patients.
If convalescent plasma is ultimately shown to have a clear benefit, the new study published in the journal mBio concluded that it needs to be collected during a specific window of time after recovery.
However, recovering patients can't donate blood until at least 14 days after symptoms have subsided, to give the body time to clear viral particles.
"We don't want to transfuse the virus, just transfuse the antibodies," said Andres Finzi at the University of Montreal in Canada. "But at the same time, our work shows that the capacity of the plasma to neutralise viral particles is going down during those first weeks," Finzi said.
The spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 plays a crucial role in helping the virus grab and invade host cells.
Findings from an earlier cross-sectional study by Finzi's group, involving more than 100 patients, suggested that the ability of plasma to neutralise the virus decreased significantly between 3 and 6 weeks after symptom onset.
Source: PTI