Kerala reported 51 per cent of India’s Covid-19 cases in 7 days

Beneficiaries wait for their turn to get a Covid-19 vaccine dose at a centre in Kochi

Kerala reported 51.51 per cent of the total Covid-19 cases recorded in the country in the past seven days, the central government said on Tuesday. At a joint press briefing on the pandemic, an official said that 37 districts across nine states, including Kerala (11 districts) and Tamil Nadu (seven districts), were showing rising trend in daily Covid-19 cases over the last two weeks. Also, as many as 44 districts across 11 states and Union territories reported a weekly positivity rate of more than 10 per cent, the official said.

According to the Centre, the reproduction number that denotes the spread of Covid-19 was more than 1 in five states - Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh, Goa and Nagaland have their reproduction number at 1, Joint Secretary in the Union Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said. For India, it is around 1, he added.

People at a vegetable and fruit market in Kochi, in May. File pics

The increasing trend of reproduction number in some states is cause for concern, although there is stabilisation in Covid-19 cases in the country, NITI Aayog member (Health) V K Paul said, adding there are significant reasons to enforce pandemic control measures.

India logged 28,204 new Coronavirus infections, the lowest in 147 days, while the active cases fell to 3,88,508, the lowest in 139 days, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Tuesday morning.

The death toll has climbed to 4,28,682 with 373 fresh fatalities, including 105 from Kerala and 68 from Maharashtra.

New Covaxin plant

Union minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday said the government has given approval to Bharat Biotech's Ankleshwar manufacturing plant to produce Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin.

People flout physical distancing norms to receive ration kit being distributed by former Congress mayor Padmavati at Rajajinagar in Bengaluru, on Tuesday. Pic/PTI

"Govt of India approves vaccine manufacturing facility for production of @BharatBiotech's #Covaxin in Ankleshwar, Gujarat," he tweeted.

In May, Bharat Biotech had announced that it plans to produce an additional 200 million doses of Covaxin at its subsidiary's facility at Ankleshwar.

3,19,98,158
Total no. of Coronavirus cases in India so far

4,28,682
Total no. of deaths due to the virus in India so far

3,88,508
Total no. of active cases in India

17,852
Total no. of deaths in Kerala as of August 10 data

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