India on Sunday reported 45,083 new coronavirus cases, pushing the infection tally in the country to 3,26,95,030 since the pandemic broke out in January last year, government data showed. The new cases are 3.5% lower than Saturday’s count of 46,759 infections.

The toll rose by 460 to 4,37,830. The active caseload jumped to 3,68,558. As many as 3,18,88,642 people have recovered from the infection so far.

Kerala, which last week celebrated Onam, accounted for most number of new infections. On Saturday, the state government reinstated night curfew from 10 pm to 6 am after recording over 30,000 cases for the fourth consecutive day. This will come into effect from Monday.

“In areas where the Weekly Infection Population Ratio is above 7%, the government has decided to implement a lockdown,” Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said after a review meeting.

The Weekly Infection Population Ratio is the total number of coronavirus cases reported in a week multiplied by 1,000 and divided by the total population of local bodies.

The chief minister added that a lockdown will continue on Sundays in the state until further directions. He said restrictions were necessary to prevent deaths and reduce hospitalisations.

Other updates

  • Over 73.8 lakh vaccine doses were administered to beneficiaries in the last 24 hours, the health ministry said. The total doses administered in the country has exceeded 63.09 crore so far.
  • Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray urged citizens to follow the Centre’s directives and avoid crowding during the upcoming festival season, PTI reported. He said the virus continued to hang over everyone’s heads like the “sword of Damocles”.
  • The Indian Council of Medical Research will conduct a serological survey in 12 districts of Odisha from Sunday to assess the age-specific prevalence of antibodies in the general population and healthcare workers, PTI reported.
  • No deaths were reported due to the coronavirus disease in Delhi for the third consecutive day on Saturday. With 29 new cases, the tally rose to 14,37,685. Meanwhile, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that the Aam Aadmi Party government was preparing thoroughly for a possible third wave of the pandemic.

Global updates

  • Singapore has fully vaccinated 80% of its over 50 lakh citizens, the island city-state’s health ministry announced on Sunday.
  • Japanese Health Minister Taro Kono said the country aims to fully vaccinate its citizens by October or November, AP reported. He also promised that booster shots will be administered timely to protect the public from the disease.
  • In Australia’s second-biggest city Melbourne, authorities extended lockdown due to a surge in cases driven by the Delta variant of the virus, AFP reported. “We still have too many cases in the community for too long for us to be able to open up and give back... those freedoms that we cherish and those freedoms that we desperately want back,” Premier Dan Andrews said. This is the sixth lockdown in the city.
  • The United Arab Emirates said it will resume issuing tourist visas to fully vaccinated travellers from August 30, Gulf News reported.
  • Globally, Covid-19 has infected more than 21.53 crore people and led to over 44.85 lakh deaths since the beginning of the pandemic in December 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University.