Coronavirus India Updates: Fewer Infections Take Active Cases Below 2.7 Lakh
Track all news and developments around the outbreak in India here.
New coronavirus cases in India continue to decline, falling to lowest in over six months, amid worries of more infectious strains coming in from foreign countries.
Authorities reported 20,549 fresh cases in 24 hours taking the total tally to 1,02,44,852 in the world’s second-worst infected country, according to the Health Ministry’s update as of 8 a.m. on Dec. 30. This includes 1.48 lakh deaths and 98.3 lakh patients who have recovered.
New cases remained under the 25,000-mark for over a week now, significantly lower than the peaks seen in mid-September. Daily recoveries have stayed ahead of fresh additions since Nov. 28. One-day fatalities too remained below 300 for the fifth consecutive day.
The slower pace of India’s daily infections and an improved recovery rate have kept active cases in India below the 3-lakh-mark for over a week now. That’s just 2.7% of the total caseload. India’s active cases had crossed 10 lakh in mid-September.
Key figures:
Total number of confirmed coronavirus cases: 1,02,44,852
Active cases: 2,62,272
Cured/discharged/migrated: 98,34,141
Deaths: 1,48,439
Number of fresh cases in last 24 hours: 20,549
One-day recoveries: 26,572
One-day deaths: 286
Global Updates
The Covid-19 variant discovered in the U.K. has arrived in Colorado, the state’s governor said on Tuesday. And U.S. President-elect Joe Biden criticized vaccine-distribution efforts under President Donald Trump as too slow, repeating his pledge to deliver 1 million doses a day after he takes office.
The European Union will take an additional 100 million doses of the vaccine developed by BioNTech SE and Pfizer Inc. A new strain of the virus that’s taking hold in the U.K. is a potential “game changer,” according to Ireland’s health minister. Denmark extended its lockdown by two weeks.
Globally, over 81.7 million coronavirus cases have been detected with 1.7 million dead.
Seven More Test Positive For U.K.’s Mutated Coronavirus
Seven people who returned to Karnataka from the U.K., were found to be infected with the mutated strain of coronavirus, state Health Minister K Sudhakar said.
The swab samples of 26 people who tested positive for Covid-19 were sent to National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences to ascertain whether it is the new strain and seven of them were found to have contracted the U.K. variant.
The 26 were among the 1,614 U.K. returnees, who were subjected to the tests. 46 primary contacts of the seven people have been quarantined.
Twenty people across the country have been tested positive for the new U.K. variant genome of SARS-CoV2.