A huge spike of 18,522 new coronavirus patients was recorded in the last 24 hours, taking India’s tally to 5,66,840 cases. A total of 16,893 patients have died since the beginning of the pandemic, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday morning.
1. COVAXIN, the first COVID-19 potential vaccine to be developed in India has been given DCGI (Drug Controller General of India) approval for Phase I and II human clinical trials that are scheduled to start across the country in July. An inactivated vaccine created from a strain of the infectious SARS-CoV-2 virus, it has been developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech.
2. A total of 3,34,822 patients have recovered so far in India. The average positivity rate – ratio of positive cases to the number of tests conducted – stood at 8.80 per cent this morning. India has registered a steady increase in positivity rate over the past one week.
3. Maharashtra, which has the highest number of COVID-19 infections in India, has extended the lockdown till July 31. The state government asked officials to enforce measures and necessary restrictions during the extended lockdown to contain the spread of the virus.
4. In the last one week, Delhi has tested over 15,000 samples daily. The national capital on Monday recorded 2,084 new coronavirus cases, taking the infection tally in the city to over 85,000. This is the lowest number of new cases Delhi has seen within a single day when compared to the recent trend in the spike in cases where 3,000 to nearly 4,000 cases were being detected each day.
5. Across India, a total of 86,08,654 samples have been tested so far; 2,10,292 samples were tested on Monday. India has a population of around 130 crores, according to rough estimates.
6. Tamil Nadu, which has logged the third-highest number of COVID-19 patients so far, has also extended the coronavirus lockdown till July 31. Chennai and Madurai will continue to be under intense lockdown till July 5 and the current relaxations and curbs shall be in force till July 31 for the rest of Tamil Nadu, the government said. On Monday, the state recorded 3949 new infections, its biggest single-day spike.
7. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation at 4 pm.
Meanwhile, the Centre on Monday issued guidelines on the lifting of lockdown restrictions under “Unlock 2”.
8. The Indian Council of Medical Research says a total of 86.08 lakh samples have been tested for Covid-19 so far. Of these, 2.10 lakh samples were tested on Monday.
9. North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash announces that the number of beds at the civic-run Hindu Rao Hospital, which was recently converted into a dedicated Covid-19 facility, will be increased to 200 in a phased manner, PTI reports.
10. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that his government will launch a plasma bank in the Capital to help critically-ill coronavirus patients. The plasma bank will be set up at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences and begin functioning in two days.