Coronavirus India Updates: New Infections Drop For Third Day; Total Cases Top 2 Crore
Track the latest updates on the second wave of Covid-19 in India here.
Fresh cases of Covid-19 in India dropped for a third day, at a time the government is scrambling to ramp up procurement of vaccines.
Over 3.57 lakh people tested positive for the virus in a 24-hour period, according to the Health Ministry’s update as of 8 a.m. on May 4, taking the total number of confirmed cases above 2 crore.
More than 3,000 patients have succumbed to the illness daily for a week now, overwhelming the country’s crematoriums and burial grounds. That took the total death toll above 2.22 lakh.
Key Numbers:
- Total confirmed cases: 2,02,82,833
- Total number of active cases: 34,47,133
- Total patients cured/discharged: 1,66,13,292
- Total deaths: 2,22,408
- Number of fresh cases in last 24 hours: 3,57,229
- One-day recoveries: 3,20,289
- One-day deaths: 3,449
The central government will supply 59.7 lakh vaccine doses to states and union territories for free over the next three days. So far, the centre has provided 16.54 crore shots.
To be sure, this stock is only to be used for vaccinating those over 45 years of age. States and private hospitals have to procure vaccines from manufacturers directly for administering it to 18-44 year olds.
The Health Ministry also clarified that it has placed additional orders for 11 crore doses of Covishield with Serum Institute of India and 5 crore jabs of Covaxin with Bharat Biotech Ltd.
Read more about India’s vaccine stock and pipeline here.
ICMR Issues Advisory On Covid-19 Testing
The Indian Council of Medical Research has issued an advisory on Covid-19 testing to reduce the load on laboratories that are seeing overwhelming demand.
The new advisory suggests:
- Removing the need for RT-PCR test for “healthy individuals” travelling from one state to another.
- Removing testing required for individuals that have recovered from Covid-19 at the time of hospital discharge.
- RT-PCR test must not be repeated for anyone who has tested positive once.
- Rapid Antigen Tests to be upscaled to meet overwhelming testing demand.
Maharashtra Requests Increased Oxygen Supply
Maharashtra government has requested the centre to increase its supply of liquid medical oxygen to the state by another 200 metric tons.
According to a letter written by Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte to Union Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, demand for oxygen is rapidly increasing in the 16 districts of Maharashtra.
The letter calls for immediate action to ensure increased allocation of oxygen from nearby and convenient locations.
Additionally, Maharashtra has requested that 10 LMO tankers be allocated to the state to enable lifting of its oxygen quota from the steel plant at Angul via RORO.