Covid-19: Active cases drop by 4,634 in India

A health worker collects samples for Covid-19 testing at a railway station in Bengaluru, on Monday. Pic/PTI

India added 35,499 new Covid-19 cases and 447 fresh fatalities in a span of 24 hours, according to the Union health ministry's data updated on Monday morning. The active caseload dropped significantly, by 4,634 cases, to 4,02,188.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.59 per cent. It has been less than three per cent for the last 14 days, the ministry said. Cumulatively, 50.86 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered under the nationwide vaccination drive till Monday morning.

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre, Bharat Biotech, SII, ICMR and others to respond to a plea seeking directions for disclosure of data on clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccines, and also on post-vaccination cases.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner, said it is not an "anti-vaccine petition" and transparency on the issue was needed as disclosure of data would rather clear all the doubts and hesitancy. He said the plea has also raised the issue of coercive vaccine mandates being issued, like putting certain restriction on travel if someone is not vaccinated. Bhushan said if the data is not made public, it would lead to more rumours and there would be more reasons for concern.

Another bench of SC asked the Centre to submit within two weeks the action taken report on implementing the suggestions of the court-appointed National Task Force on allocation of oxygen to states and UTs amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The top court said that since the NTF consists of senior doctors and experts from all over the country, it is imperative for the Centre to take steps to ensure that its recommendations are duly implemented at the policy level to meet any exigencies in present and foreseeable future.

3,19,69,954
Total no. of Coronavirus cases in India so far

4,28,309
Total no. of deaths due to the virus in India so far

4,02,188
Total no. of active cases in India

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