India on Wednesday recorded 37,875 new Covid-19 infections, which pushed the cumulative tally of cases since the outbreak of the pandemic in January last year to 3,30,96,718. The new cases were 21.3% higher than Tuesday’s figure of 31,222 cases.

The toll in the country rose to 4,41,411 after 369 deaths were recorded in the last day. The number of active cases currently at 3,91,256. The active caseload decreased by 1,608 in the past day.

In all, 3,22,64,051 people have recovered from the coronavirus in the country till now. The nationwide recovery rate currently stands at 97.48%.

The total number of vaccine doses administered in India since the beginning of the inoculation drive in January went up to 70,75,43,018. On Tuesday alone, health workers in the country administered 78,47,625 doses.

The Centre has provided a total of 70.31 crore vaccine doses to states and Union Territories till now, and more than 8.02 lakh doses are in the pipeline, according to data from the Union health ministry. Over 5.64 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses are presently available with states and Union Territories, the ministry said.

Other updates

  • Passengers arriving in West Bengal from seven countries will have to undergo an RT-PCR test on arrival, PTI quoted a senior official as saying. The rule will apply to passengers from Bangladesh, China, South Africa, New Zealand, Mauritius, Zimbabwe and Botswana. The requirement was already in place for passengers from the United Kingdom and Brazil.
  • Thirty-three students have tested positive for Covid-19 in Odisha’s Bargarh and Dhenkanal districts in the past two days, The Indian Express reported. The state’s mass education department has launched a probe into the matter, and chief district medical officers of both districts have begun contact tracing of the students.
  • The Goa government on Tuesday withdrew SOPs that it had introduced just hours earlier for the Ganesh Chaturthi festival, the Hindustan Times reported. This was after Chief Minister Pramod Sawant expressed disagreement with some of the guidelines in a series of tweets. He particularly objected to a guideline that stopped priests from visiting individual households for conducting pujas.
  • Bengaluru’s municipal corporation has restricted Ganesha Chaturthi celebrations in public places in the city to three days, PTI reported. A circular issued by the chief commissioner of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike stated that people will not be able to hold processions while bringing the idol to their homes or neighbourhood pandals, or during immersion.
  • Pharmaceutical firm Panacea Biotec on Tuesday announced that it has supplied the first batch of  the Russian-made Sputnik-V Covid-19 vaccine for distribution and sale in India, the Hindustan Times reported. The batch has 1 million doses of the second component of the two-dose vaccine, the company said in its statement.
  • Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin announced in the state Assembly on Tuesday that public gatherings will not be permitted for religious festivals, including for Vinayaka Chaturthi, The News Minute reported. The restrictions, imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19, will be in place till September 15.

Global updates

  • United States President Joe Biden will on Thursday present a six-pronged strategy to curb the spread of highly-transmissible Delta variant and ramp up vaccinations, Reuters quoted the White House as saying. The agency quoted a White House official as saying that the plan would deal with mandates, testing and schools.
  • Globally, Covid-19 has infected more than 22.18 crore people and led to over 45.85 lakh deaths since the beginning of the pandemic in December 2019, according to John Hopkins University.