India on Saturday registered 33,376 new infections and 308 deaths due to Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, according to data from the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The new cases are 4.5% lower than Friday’s count of 34,973 cases.

The new cases pushed the overall tally of infections since the outbreak of the pandemic in January last year to 3,32,08,330. The toll rose to 4,42,317.

The number of active cases climbed by 870 to 3,91,516 and the recoveries reached 3,23,74,497.

A total of 73,05,89,688 vaccine doses have been administered in India since the beginning of the inoculation drive in January till Friday. As many as 65,27,175 doses were administered on Friday alone.

(Ministry of Health and Family Welfare)

On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a Covid-19 review meeting with senior officers of the health ministry, the cabinet secretary and other officials.

The Prime Minister’s Office said that Modi noted the need to conduct constant genome sequencing to monitor the emergence of new variants of the coronavirus.

The prime minister said that there was a need to rapidly increase the availability of oxygen.

“Efforts are also on to install 961 liquid medical oxygen storage tanks and 1,450 medical gas pipeline systems with an aim to support at least one such unit per district,” the statement said.

Other updates

  • The Uttar Pradesh government on Friday claimed there was no active Covid-19 case in 33 districts of the state, reported ANI. The government also said that 67 districts have not reported any new infections in the last 24 hours.
  • Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that his government was aiming to administer at least the first shot of the vaccine against the coronavirus to all adults in the state by September 30, reported the Hindustan Times.
  • Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh extended the Covid-19-induced restrictions in the state till September 30 because of the upcoming festival season, reported the Hindustan Times.

Global updates

  • A paper published by the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that fully vaccinated residents were 11 times less likely to die due to Covid-19 when compared to the unvaccinated since the Delta strain has become the most common variant, reported AFP. The paper also said that residents who had received both the doses were 10 times less likely to be hospitalised than those remain not vaccinated at all against the infectious disease.
  • More than 80% of Denmark’s residents, aged 12 and above, have received both shots of the Covid-19 vaccine. This has led to a government order to lift all domestic restrictions, reported The Guardian. With this, Denmark has become one of the first countries in the European Union to lift curbs after 548 days when the restrictions were first imposed.
  • Globally, Covid-19 has infected more than 22.38 crore people and led to over 46.16 lakh deaths since the beginning of the pandemic in December 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University.