India sees another dip in daily Covid-19 tally with 70,421 new cases
From Monday, several states and Union territories (UTs) will be seeing more relaxations under their unlock plans in order to restart their economies
India on Monday recorded 70,421 cases and 3,921 fatalities due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), taking the caseload and death toll to 29,510,410 and 374,305 respectively, according to the Union ministry of health and family welfare. On Sunday, the country saw 80,834 new cases, the lowest since April 2, when 81,466 people tested positive for the viral disease.
More than 119,000 people were discharged in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative figure of recoveries in the country to 28,162,947, the health ministry further said. This is the 32nd day where the daily recoveries continued to outnumber the new cases. The active cases, meanwhile, have declined to 973,158 and constitute 3.49 per cent of the caseload.
Nearly 1.5 million samples were tested for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours and the total number of samples tested has climbed to 379,624,626, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said.
From Monday, several states and Union territories (UTs) will be seeing more relaxations under their unlock plans in order to restart their economies. In Delhi, shops and malls are allowed to operate every day from 8 am to 10 pm while restaurants can open with 50%.
The neighbouring state of Haryana continues to be under lockdown for one more week. However, as per the new guidelines, all shops can open from 09:00 am to 08:00 pm while malls can function from 10:00 am to 08:00 pm. Industrial activities are allowed in adherence to Covid-appropriate behaviour.
Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, on the other hand, have not announced relaxations in all of their districts. In Tamil Nadu, relaxation have been provided in 27 districts including the state capital Chennai. And in Karnataka, only 19 districts will begin their unlocking process.
A total of 253,195,048 beneficiaries have been vaccinated against the Covid-19 disease in India till now of which 3,484,239 were inoculated in the last 24 hours. Of these, 3,103,522 received the first dose while 380,717 received both doses. With a view to further speed up the vaccination drive, doses may soon be delivered to remote areas through drones. HLL Infra Tech Services Limited, on behalf of the ICMR, called for an expression of interest for delivering vaccine doses and drugs through Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in such areas, Hindustan Times reported on Sunday.