Coronavirus India Updates: India Now Has Highest Covid-19 Cases After U.S.

India is now the country with the second highest Covid-19 infection in the world, as it topped Brazil while adding cases at a record pace.

India added over 90,800 fresh cases in a matter of 24 hours, taking the total tally to over 42 lakh in the world’s second-most populous country, according to the Health Ministry’s update as of 8 a.m. on Sept. 7. That compares with the U.S.' 6,275,643 cases and Brazil's 4,137,521 infections.

Key figures:

• Total number of confirmed coronavirus cases: 42,04,613
• Active cases: 8,82,542
• Cured/discharged/migrated: 32,50,429
• Deaths: 71,642
• Number of fresh cases in last 24 hours: 90,802
• One-day recoveries: 69.564
• One-day deaths: 1,016

Despie higher recoveries, deaths due to Covid-19, too, remain elevated. The country has reported more than 1,000 casualties due to the highly contagious pathogen for six straight days.

As the nation with 1.3 billion people crosses yet another grim milestone, the pandemic is threatening to overwhelm an already-overworked healthcare system. Still, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, in a press briefing during the week ended Sept. 4, claimed that India has the lowest cases per million people in the world. The nation has 2,792 cases per million population compared to 18,802 in Brazil and 18,986 in the U.S., he said.

Global Update

Australia warned of mounting economic pain as Victoria state announced only a gradual easing of its lockdown. Indonesia cases topped 3,000 for a fifth day, with outbreaks in Jakarta and Bali. South Korea reported the fewest new infections in three weeks. European hot spots are spiking again, with infections in the U.K. increasing by the most in more than three months.

Globally, the coronavirus cases are approaching the 27-million mark, including more than 881,000 deaths.

Track all Covid-19 related news and updates in India, here.

The Delhi Metro resumed services with curtailed operations on the Yellow Line on Monday after being closed for over five months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as both the DMRC and the commuters trod with caution amid the new normal in the rapid transport system.

The trains will operate in batches of four-hour each from 7-11 a.m. in the morning and 4-8 p.m. in the evening, officials said.

The services resumed at 7 a.m. with strict safety and social distancing measures in place. The first trains left from Samaypur Badli station to HUDA City Centre station and simultaneously from HUDA City Centre to Samaypur Badli, a senior official of DMRC said.

"We are on our way. It's been 169 days since we've seen you! Travel responsibly and commute if it's only necessary. #MetroBackOnTrack," the DMRC tweeted and posted a video clip of the first train leaving HUDA City Centre.

Source: PTI

In what could possibly be the world's largest and fastest ever operation of its kind, Unicef has announced that it will be leading the procurement and supply of coronavirus vaccines to ensure that all countries have safe, fast and equitable access to initial doses when they are available.

The United Nations Children's Fund is the world's largest single vaccine buyer, procuring more than 2 billion doses of various vaccines annually for routine immunisation and outbreak response on behalf of nearly 100 countries.

With several vaccine candidates showing promise, the UN agency, in collaboration with the Revolving Fund of the Pan American Health Organization, will lead efforts to procure and supply doses of Covid-19 vaccines on behalf of the COVAX Global Vaccines Facility for 92 low and lower middle-income countries, whose vaccine purchases will be supported by the mechanism.

Unicef will also serve as procurement coordinator to support purchases by 80 higher-income economies, which have expressed their intent to participate in the COVAX Facility and would finance the vaccines from their own budgets, it said.

The vaccine procurement and distribution effort, involving over 170 economies, has the potential to become the world's largest and fastest ever operation of its kind.

Source: PTI