Active Covid-19 cases climbing up steadily in India

Devotees take holy dip in Ganga in Varanasi

India saw a single-day rise of 41,831 new Covid-19 cases and 541 fatalities, according to Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday morning. Registering an increase for the fifth consecutive cases, the active cases climbed by 2,032 to 4,10,952 in a span of 24 hours. The national recovery rate was recorded at 97.36 per cent, and daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.34 per cent.

‘Rising R-value a concern'

AIIMS Chief Dr Randeep Guleria has warned that India's R-value, which indicates the spread of infection to others, was also rising steadily and was a cause of concern, according a report by NDTV. "Starting from .96, and going all the way up to 1, the rise in R-value is a cause of concern. Simply put, this means that the chances of infection spreading from a person, who has Covid-19, to others have gone up. The areas which are witnessing this surge should bring in restrictions and employ ‘test, track, and treat' strategy to break the chain of transmission," he said.

Also read: US reports over 1 lakh fresh Covid-19 cases, highest since Feb

A woman receives a vaccine shot inside a car, in Patna, Bihar, on Sunday. Pics/PTI

When the second wave was at its peak, India's overall R-value was estimated to be 1.37 between March 9 to April 21. It declined to 1.18 between April 24 and May 1 and then to 1.1 between April 29 and May 7. Between May 9 and 11, the R-value was estimated to be around 0.98. It dropped to 0.82 between May 14 and May 30 and further to 0.78 from May 15 to June 26. The R-value however rose to 0.88 from June 20 to July 7 and then to 0.95 from July 3-22.

The ministry on Sunday said that so far, 47,02,98,596 vaccine doses have been administered throughout the country, with 60,15,842 people getting vaccinated in the past 24 hours. Based on 2011 census data, India has about 90-95 crore people aged 18 years and above who are eligible for vaccination.

Goa misses July 31 deadline

Goa missed its deadline of July 31 to administer at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose to everyone in the state.

"Now, 87 per cent of the eligible population of Goa has been given the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. Currently, 23 per cent of beneficiaries have got both doses," State Vaccination Officer Dr Rajendra Borkar told reporters.

The July 31 deadline was set by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant with the aim of getting the state prepared to tackle a possible third wave of the infection.

3,16,55,824
Total no. of Coronavirus cases in India so far

4,24,351
Total no. of deaths due to the virus in India so far

4,10,952
Total no. of active cases in India

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