As many as 62,480 new COVID-19 cases and 1,587 deaths were recorded in India in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry informed on Friday.
Top 10 Developments:
1. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), the active cases dropped below the 8-lakh mark after 73 days. With the new cases, the country’s tally has climbed to 2,97,62,793 including 7,98,656 active cases and 3,83,490 deaths.
2. The daily positivity rate in India now stands at 3.24 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate stands at 3.80 per cent. The daily positivity rate has been below 5 per cent for the eleventh consecutive day.
3. With 88,977 fresh discharges in the last 24 hours, the cumulative recoveries reached 2,85,80,647.
4. As recoveries continued to outnumber daily new cases for the 36th consecutive day, the recovery rate in India stands at 96.03 per cent.
5. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 38,71,67,696 samples were tested for COVID-19, up to June 17 out of these, 19,29,476 samples were tested yesterday.
6. The Union Health Ministry has informed that 26,89,60,399 vaccine doses have been administered so far under the vaccination drive in the country.
7. Serum Institute of India (SII) is likely to begin clinical trials of Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate on children in July, sources at the Pune-based vaccine manufacturer said.
8. Coronavirus-related deaths worldwide passed a grim milestone of 4 million on Thursday, according to a Reuters tally, as many countries struggle to procure enough vaccines to inoculate their populations.
9. Russian-made Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V will soon offer a booster shot, adjusted to work against the Delta variant of coronavirus to other vaccine manufacturers. The booster shot will be offered to other vaccine manufacturers, RDIF stated in a tweet.
BREAKING: #SputnikV will soon offer a booster shot, adjusted to work against the Delta variant of coronavirus, first detected in India, to other vaccine manufacturers. Below are the highlights of Sputnik V’s pioneering role in developing vaccine cocktails.
— Sputnik V (@sputnikvaccine) June 17, 2021
10. The United States is devoting $3.2 billion to advance the development of antiviral pills for Covid-19 and other dangerous viruses that could turn into pandemics.