India on Saturday morning recorded 41,469 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, pushing the infection tally to 3,16,13,993 since the pandemic broke out in January last year. This is nearly 6% lower than Friday’s count of 44,230 cases, which was the highest in three weeks.

With 593 deaths, the toll climbed to 4,23,810. The number of active cases went up by 3,765 to 4,08,920. There are 3,07,81,263 patients who have recovered from the coronavirus infection.

The Centre on Saturday held a review meeting on the coronavirus situation in 10 states that are either reporting an increase in daily cases or a rise in the positivity rate. These states are Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Assam, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh and Manipur, the government said.

Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan told the states that they need to consider imposing stricter restrictions such as preventing or limiting the movement of residents as well as mass gathering in 46 districts reporting a positivity rate of over 10% in the last few weeks. The positivity rate is the percentage of people who test positive for the virus out of those who have been tested overall.

Source: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

So far, India has administered 46,15,18,479 vaccine doses, giving 52,99,036 doses on Friday alone. On Friday, the Centre directed states and Union Territories to ensure that marginalised groups are vaccinated against the coronavirus.

The Centre on Saturday also directed all departments to prioritise addressing Covid-19 public grievances and resolving them within three days, reported PTI.

In its order, the government also reduced the maximum limit to resolve grievances received through the Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System to 45 days. The mechanism is an online system for residents to lodge their grievances on matters related to central ministries, state governments and Union Territories.

Here are some other updates:

  1. The Karnataka government made it mandatory for travellers from Kerala and Maharashtra to have a negative RT-PCR test not older than 72 hours if they are coming to the state.
  2. The Punjab government announced the reopening of schools for all classes from August 2 in accordance with Covid-19 appropriate behaviour, reported the Hindustan Times.
  3. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted that Rs 1,827.8 crore fixed by the Centre to fight against the coronavirus pandemic has been sent to the states and Union Territories. He pointed out that this sum is 15% of the total amount of the emergency Covid-19 response package announced by the Centre.
  4. The Andhra Pradesh government extended the night curfew in the state by two weeks till August 14, The News Minute reported. The curfew will remain in place between 10 pm to 6 am. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu government extended the lockdown in the state till August 9, News18 reported.
  5. Israel will offer a third dose of vaccine to people aged over 60 from Sunday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said. This is the world’s first country to offer a third booster shot. About 55% of Israel’s nine-million population has been fully vaccinated.
  6. Globally, Covid-19 has infected 19.73 crore people and caused 42.07 lakh deaths since the pandemic broke out in December 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University.