Coronavirus India Updates: Active Cases Drop Below 6 Lakh As Daily Infections Slow

Active Covid-19 cases in India drop below 6 lakh with the country adding less than 50,000 fresh infections for five straight days.

India added over 48,500 new cases in a matter of 24 hours, taking the total tally near 80.9 lakh in the world’s second-worst infected nation, according to the Health Ministry’s update as of 8 a.m. on Oct. 30. This includes over 1.2 lakh deaths and 73.7 lakh patients who have recovered.

The slower pace of daily infections and an improved recovery rate have led to a fairly drastic decline in active cases. They have fallen below the 6-lakh mark for the first time since Aug. 6 after climbing above 10 lakh in mid-September. Active cases now account for less than 8% of the total caseload.

India’s Ministry of Home Affairs, on Tuesday, extended the guidelines for the fifth phase of reopening the economy till Nov. 30. Announced in September, these guidelines were meant to stay in force till Oct. 31. The lockdown shall continue to be implemented strictly in the containment zones during the period, the MHA said.

This comes at a time shoppers continue to throng the streets in urban India amid a festive season which began with Navaratri and Durga Puja.

Key Numbers

• Total number of confirmed coronavirus cases: 80,88,851
• Active cases: 5,94,386
• Cured/discharged/migrated: 73,73,375
• Deaths: 1,21,090
• New Cases in 24 hours: 48,648
• Recoveries in 24 hours: 57,386
• Deaths in 24 hours: 563

Global Update

U.S. new cases topped 86,000, setting a new daily record, as the outbreak intensifies ahead of next week’s presidential election.

The government in Tokyo made plans to boost its testing capacity sixfold as the flu season begins. In Asia, where the virus is more contained, economies are starting to claw back from the deep slumps triggered by the pandemic.

Globally, cases exceeded 44.9 million with more than 1.18 million dead, as of Friday morning.