New Delhi, Oct 26 (UNI) India’s COVID-19 graph seems to be declining as the country during the past 24 hours recorded 45,148 fresh cases, a figure though high yet less when compared to previous months. In the same period, 480 more people lost their lives. With the new additions, the case count reached 79,09,959 while the death toll soared to 1,19,014, the Union Health Ministry data showed.
The fatality rate stood at 1.50 per cent which is among the lowest in the world. Its death rate is also continuously declining. Maharashtra accounted for 112 of the day’s fatalities followed by 60 from West Bengal, 33 from Delhi, 32 from Karnataka, 31 from Tamil Nadu and 28 from Uttar Pradesh.
On a positive note, 59,105 more people recovered, taking the total recovery count to 71,37,228, which is 90.23 per cent of the caseload.
According to Health Ministry data, 78 per cent of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 States/UTs. Karnataka has contributed the maximum to the single day recoveries with more than 10,000 cases followed by Kerala with more than 7,000 cases.
The government said as part of the COVID-19 management and response policy, there has been a sharp focus of the Centre on not only containing the virus, but also to reduce deaths and save lives by providing quality clinical care to the critical and severe patients. Collaborative efforts of the Union and State/UT governments have resulted in strengthening of the health facilities across the country. As many as 2,218 dedicated COVID hospitals are providing quality medical care.
The country continues to report a trend of steadily decreasing active cases. Presently, the active cases comprise merely 8.26 per cent of the total positive cases standing at 6,53,717. This is the lowest since August 13 when the active cases were 6,53,622.
As per the Indian Council of Medical Research, 9,39,309 samples were tested on Friday, taking the total to 10,34,62,778.
The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11. To date, more than 43.45 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, with over 1.16 million fatalities. Exactly 13 days later, India announced a stringent 21-day nationwide lockdown from March 25, however, as the cases kept rising, the lockdown was extended till May 30 after which the restrictions were gradually lifted in order to revive the battered economy.
Vaccine hope
Even as the globe is battling the pandemic with full vigour, all hopes are pinned on a potential vaccine.
The good news is British drugmaker Astra Zenca which is helping the University of Oxford in developing a vaccine said that the vaccine triggers a ‘robust’ immune response in the elderly. It suggested that the group at highest risk of serious illness and death from the disease could be protected if given the jab.
“It is encouraging to see immunogenicity responses were similar amongst more mature and younger older people and that reactogenicity was reduced in older grown ups, exactly where the COVID-19 sickness severity is bigger,” an AstraZeneca spokesman said.
Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson’s first batches of its vaccine could be available for emergency use as soon as January, Ruxandra Draghia-Akli, the company’s head of public health research and development, said in a presentation at the World Health Summit.
In another report, The Sun newspaper said that the staff at a major London hospital trust have been told to be ready to receive the first batches of the Oxford vaccine from November 2.
