The spread of Covid-19 in India continued to slow down officially even as the number of confirmed cases crossed 1 crore. India reported over 24,000 fresh infections in 24 hours, according to Health Ministry. New infections have remained below 30,000 for over a week now, a significant improvement from the daily tally of nearly 1 lakh reported in mid-September. Active cases have fallen nearly 3 lakh mark.

 

So far, more than one crore and 55 thousand people have been infected. With 333 fatalities reported on Sunday, the death toll touched 1,45,810. There are as many as 3.03 lakh active cases in the country, while 96,06,111 people have recovered from the disease. Kerala is the only state to report more than 5,000 cases.

Kerala has reported the maximum number of single day recoveries with 4,749 newly recovered cases. 3,119 people recovered in Maharashtra followed by 2,717 in West Bengal.  76.62% of the new cases are concentrated in 10 States and UTs. Kerala reported the highest daily new cases at 6,293. It is followed by Maharashtra with 3,940 new cases. Ten States/UTs account for 81.23% of new deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (74). West Bengal and Delhi follow with 43 and 32 daily deaths, respectively.

The Health Ministry’s top advisory body will meet urgently today  to discuss the new strain of the novel coronavirus in the United Kingdom, which has triggered concern and prompted several European countries to stop incoming flights from the UK. Sources said experts from AIIMS and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), along with a representative from the World Health Organisation (WHO), will attend the meeting on the new strain, which shows alterations in the spike protein that could theoretically make it more infectious.

Meanwhile, even as India’s top regulator has asked three vaccine manufacturers for additional data on late-stage trials to consider clearing their candidates for emergency use, Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said on Sunday that he believes “personally” that India could be in a position to begin administering the vaccine to the public “maybe” next month.

Globally, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed a full lockdown on London and large parts of southeast England in a desperate attempt to stop a new strain of coronavirus that is spreading rapidly in the region. Sydney also widened restrictions following 30 new local Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours amid a growing outbreak in the Australian city’s Northern  Beaches area. South Korea also reported a surge after an outbreak in a Seoul prison infected 185 people. Saudi Arabia has temporarily suspended all international passenger flights for citizens and residents over fears about the fast-spreading new variant of the coronavirus.