India reported 55,838 coronavirus cases and 702 deaths in the last 24 hours ending 8 am Thursday. 

With this, the total number of infections rose to 77,06,946 while the fatalities surged to 1,16,616. At present, India has 7,15,812 active cases after a decrease of 24,278 in the last 24 hours. 

As many as 68,74,518 people have been recovered with 79,415 new discharges in the last hours.

Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar tested positive for COVID 19 on Thursday. He has mild symptoms and has been quarantined at his home in Mumbai, highly placed officials told The Indian Express.

On Monday, India recorded less than 50,000 new infections of novel coronavirus cases for the first time in nearly three months and on Tuesday and Wednesday as well the country reported around 55,000 cases. 

The continuous decline in the number of new cases has meant that, after two and half months, India has stopped reporting the highest number of cases in the world. For the last three days, the United States, which is in the midst of a resurgence, has reported more new infections than India. There is a resurgence of cases in several countries of Europe as well.

Pointing out that the World Health Organisation expected several vaccines for Covid-19 early next year but was alarmed at the spike in the number of cases in several European countries, WHO Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan Wednesday said that her primary learning from the pandemic was the need for countries to heavily invest in primary healthcare facilities, as countries with the strongest primary and public healthcare have fared the best during the past eight months.

Meanwhile, a day after the ICMR director general said the use of convalescent plasma therapy for Covid-19 patients may be deleted from national guidelines, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said the trial therapy in the city “proved beneficial for 2,000 people”.

Source: The Indian Express

BDST: 1320 HRS, OCT 22, 2020
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