India recorded 29,164 new COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours - less than 30,000 in a day for the first time in over four months, government coronavirus data shows. 

With this, the country's total Covid case count since the January outbreak stands at 88,74,291. 

In the one-day period, 449 people lost their life to COVID-19, taking the overall fatalities to 1,30,519.

The daily case count has dropped to under 30,000 for the first time since July 15, when India logged 29,429 fresh infections. The country's Covid chart rose steadily after that to more than 90,000 cases a day in mid-September - the peak of India's first coronavirus wave, which has declined steadily since October.

India has also seen more daily new recoveries than cases for 45 successive days, bringing its active caseload down to 4.53 lakh; 40,791 patients fought off the viral disease successfully in the last 24 hours. The recovery rate has improved to 93.4 per cent. The total recovered cases stand at 82,90,371.

Though the country is now past the first peak, the central and state governments are anticipating another surge, possibly more severe, in the coming winter months when respiratory infections rise. Many states in the country's north have been reporting steady rise in COVID-19 infections.

Delhi remains the worst hit among these states, logging 99 deaths and 3,797 cases - almost half of its last week's average of 7,000 as testing halved to 30,000 despite orders to increase it to almost 1 lakh a day with more RT-PCR tests.

Almost 58 per cent of all Covid-related deaths were reported from Delhi, Maharashtra (60), West Bengal (53), Chhattisgarh (26) and Punjab (22).

Globally, US remains the worst hit nation with more than 1.1 crore Covid cases and 2.5 lakh related mortalities, followed by India, Brazil and France. US and many European countries are seeing a fresh, stronger spike than the spring surge making the world look impatiently at a vaccine even as China and Russia have started immunising their populations.

Moderna Inc's vaccine, with an efficacy of 94.5 per cent, is the latest among the various contenders. It stays stable at refrigerator temperature for 30 days, unlike others which require sub-zero storage.

India's Bharat Biotech has announced the commencement of Phase 3 trials of COVAXIN. This is India's first phase 3 efficacy study for a COVID-19 vaccine, and the largest phase 3 efficacy trial ever conducted in India with 26,000 volunteers.

Source: NDTV

BDST: 1310 HRS, NOV 17, 2020
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