India on Friday recorded 34,973 new Covid-19 infections, which pushed the cumulative tally of cases since the outbreak of the pandemic in January last year to 3,31,74,954. The new cases were 19.1% lower than Thursday’s count of 43,263 cases.

With 260 additional deaths, the toll in the country increased to 4,42,009. The number of active cases currently stands at 3,90,646. The active caseload decreased by 2,968 in the past day.

A total of 3,23,42,299 people have recovered from the coronavirus in the country till now.

A total of 72,37,84,586 vaccine doses have been administered in India since the beginning of the inoculation drive in January. On Tuesday alone, as many as 67,58491 doses were administered.

Other updates

  • The Mumbai Police on Thursday issued an order prohibiting the assembly of four or more people in the city during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in view of the coronavirus pandemic. The restriction imposed under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code will stay in effect from September 10 to September 19.
  • Kerala Health Minister Veena George on Thursday said that 90% of deaths due to Covid-19 in the state from June 15 were people who were unvaccinated and had co-morbidities, The Times of India reported.
  • Delhi on Thursday reported 36 cases of the coronavirus and zero deaths due to the disease, ANI reported. The total Covid-19 cases in the capital rose to 14,38,118 and the city currently has 415 active cases.
  • The Centre said that one dose of the coronavirus vaccine has proved to be 96.6% effective in preventing deaths while two shots provide 97.5% efficacy against fatality due to the infection. The figures were presented by Indian Council of Medical Research chief Balram Bhargava.  

Global updates

  • United States President Joe Biden on Thursday announced policies requiring most federal employees to get Covid-19 vaccines and large employers to have their workers vaccinated or tested weekly, Reuters reported.
  • Daily coronavirus cases in Australia crossed 1,900 for the first time on Friday, Reuters reported. The state of New South Wales, the epicentre of the outbreak, reported a record 1,542 new cases in the past 24 hours.
  • Globally, Covid-19 has infected more than 22.31 crore people and led to over 46.04 lakh deaths since the beginning of the pandemic in December 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University.