Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Tuesday released a white paper on Covid-19 saying “its aim is not finger-pointing at the government but to help the nation prepare for the third wave of infection. The whole country knows that a third wave will strike.”

India reported 42,640 new Covid-19 cases, which is the lowest in 91 days, and 1,167 deaths, the lowest since April 14, in the last 24 hours as per the Union Health Ministry. 

With this, the total number of coronavirus cases in the country reached 2,99,77,861 while the total number of fatalities touched 3,89,302. Also, with 81,839 discharges in a day, as many as 2,89,26,038 people have recovered so far. 

Active cases dipped to 6,62,521 on Tuesday, a level last seen at the start of April. Kerala once again became the biggest contributor to India’s tally with 7,449 new cases on Tuesday.

Low testing in the last couple of days could have contributed to the low count. India tested 14 lakh samples on Sunday and 17 lakh on Monday, compared to the normal daily average of over 18 lakh tests.

As India returned to centralised procurement and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, it reported 82.70 lakh vaccinations on Monday, a daily record by far since the vaccination drive was launched on January 16. 

There were two main reasons for the surge in vaccination numbers on Monday, top government sources monitoring the drive told The Indian Express: increased vaccine supply to states after the new guidelines went into force; and an increase in the number of free vaccination sites.

Meanwhile, at least 21 samples genome sequenced in Maharashtra are of the Delta plus variant but its proportion is less than one per cent of total Covid-19 positive samples sequenced from the state since May.

Source: The Indian Express

BDST: 1615 HRS, JUNE 22, 2021
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