India reported a single-day rise of 1,27,952 new Covid-19 cases Saturday, registering a decline from Friday’s 1,49,394 new infections. The Union Health Ministry update also said that the country sae 1,059 deaths in the last 24 hours. The number of active cases now stands at 13,31,648. India’s overall death toll crossed 5 lakh, while the daily positivity rate stood at 7.98%. Among cities, the number of fresh cases were 1,604 in Delhi, 643 in Mumbai, 159 in Kolkata, 4,532 in Bangalore and 1,223 in Chennai.

Meanwhile, China, which is hosting the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, detected 45 new cases of Covid-19 among Olympic Games-related personnel on February 4, up from 21 a day earlier, according to the organising committee. In the US, the coronavirus pandemic reached a grim new milestone with the nation’s cumulative death toll from Covid-19 surpassing 9,00,000, even as the daily number of lives lost has begun to level off, according to data collected by Reuters. The latest tally marks an increase of more than 1,00,000 US Covid-19 fatalities since December 12, coinciding with a surge of infections and hospitalisations driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant of the virus.

Over 169 crore Covid vaccine doses administered in India: Govt

The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 169 crore on Saturday, the Union health ministry said. More than 40 lakh vaccine doses were administered till 7 pm on Saturday, it said, adding that the daily vaccination tally is expected to go up with the compilation of the final reports by late night.

More than 1.46 crore (1,46,98,311) precaution doses have been administered to healthcare workers (HCWs), frontline workers (FLWs) and those aged 60 years and above, the ministry said.

The countrywide vaccination drive against the viral disease was rolled out on January 16 last year with the HCWs getting inoculated in the first phase. The vaccination of FLWs started from February 2 last year.

Source: The Indian Express