India on Thursday registered 41,195 cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, taking the tally of infections to 3,20,77,706 since the pandemic began in January last year. The daily case count on Thursday was 7.41% higher than the previous day’s 38,353 cases.

The toll increased to 4,29,669 with the country reporting 490 deaths in the past day. The number of active cases currently stands at 3,87,987, while as many as 3,12,60,050 people have recovered from the disease so far.

The country has administered a total of 52,36,71,019 Covid-19 vaccine doses till now, as per data from the Union health ministry. A total of 44,19,627 doses were administered in the past 24 hours.

Here are some other updates:

  1. Vaccination at centres run by Mumbai’s civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has been suspended for Thursday and Friday due to shortage of vaccines, the Hindustan Times reported.
  2. Markets in Uttar Pradesh will remain open on Saturdays too from August 14, the Hindustan Times reported quoting Additional Chief Secretary Awanish Kumar Awasthi. However, the markets will continue to remain closed on Sundays
  3. The Maharashtra government said that citizens who have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus can enter malls as it relaxed the coronavirus-related restrictions in the state. The government announced a slew of relaxations that will take be applicable from August 15
  4. The Punjab Government on Wednesday ordered at least 10,000 RT-PCR tests in schools in the state on a daily basis, NDTV reported. The decision was taken after 26 students tested positive for the coronavirus infection in the past two days.

Global updates

  1. Authorities in Australian Capital Canberra imposed a seven-day lockdown after the city recorded its first case of Covid-19 in more than a year, BBC reported. The lockdown came into effect from 5 pm local time (12.30 pm IST) on Thursday.
  2. Mariangela Simao, the assistant director-general for vaccines in the World Health Organisation, said that the agency expects to take a decision next month on granting emergency authorisation to Bharat Biotech Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin, reported AP.
  3. Globally, Covid-19 has infected 20.4 crore people and led to 43.23 lakh deaths since the beginning of the pandemic in December 2019, as per a count by the John Hopkins University.