India on Sunday reported 39,070 new coronavirus cases, taking the tally of infections to 3,19,34,455 since the pandemic broke out in January last year, data from the health ministry showed. The new cases were marginally higher than Saturday’s count of 38,268.

The country has recorded an average of 30,000 to 40,000 infections everyday since July, dropping from a high of 4 lakh daily cases at the peak of the devastating second wave of the pandemic in May. The Centre has repeatedly warned that the danger is not over yet.

The toll on Sunday rose to 4,27,862 with more 491 deaths in the last 24 hours. The number of active cases stood at 4,06,822, while as many 3,10,99,771 people have recovered from the disease so far.

The cumulative vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 50.62 crore, the health ministry said. Over 50 lakh doses were administered on Saturday.

Pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine received emergency-use authorisation in India on Saturday. This was the fifth vaccine to get the clearance in the country. Before this, the Drugs Controller General of India had allowed the emergency use of Covishield, Covaxin, Sputnik V and Moderna vaccines.

Meanwhile, Bengaluru is experiencing a slow rise in the number of new Covid-19 cases and the positivity rate. The local civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s special commissioner for health, D Randeep, said the city is “at a crossroads” and that “the curve could go up very soon”, Deccan Herald reported. From around 300 new cases daily two weeks ago, the city is seeing well over 400 new cases a day now, The Hindu reported.

Global updates

The daily new cases in the United States crossed 1,00,000 on Saturday, AP reported. The grim milestone could be driven by the Delta variant of the virus and low vaccination rates in the South.

The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the Covid-19 virus was first reported, has collected samples of over 11.23 million people to test them for the infection, Xinhua reported. The city had not reported any locally transmitted cases for over a year until August 2, when seven people tested positive for the virus.

United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson will not go into self-isolation after a member of his staff tested positive for Covid-19 during a trip to Scotland, BBC reported. A statement from the prime minister’s office said that the visit was carried while adhering to coronavirus-related protocols, and Johnson did not come in close contact with the staff member.

Globally, Covid-19 has infected more than 20.19 crore people and caused 42.82 lakh deaths since the pandemic broke out in December 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University.