India recorded 23,529 new coronavirus cases on Thursday morning, which took the total number of infections in the country since the outbreak of the pandemic in January last year to 3,37,39,980. Thursday’s tally was 24.6% higher than Wednesday’s count of 18,870 cases.

The number of deaths due to Covid-19 in India rose to 4,48,062 with 311 more fatalities in the last day. As of Thursday morning, India’s count of active Covid-19 cases stood at 2,77,020, while the number of recoveries was 3,30,14,898.

More than 88 crore vaccine doses have been administered in the country since the beginning of the inoculation drive on January 16. Of these, over 65 lakh doses were administered to beneficiaries on Thursday.

Meanwhile at the United Nations, world leaders thanked India for exporting Covid-19 vaccines and other medical supplies, PTI reported on Wednesday.

Suriname President Chandrikapersad Santokhi said: “Our thanks extend especially to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, India, China and also the USA.”

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said vaccination was the key to get through the pandemic.
“We fully support the COVAX initiative from which we have benefitted,” he added. “We also thank the United States of America, Turkey, India, China, European Union, and others for the vaccines provided.”

Globally, the coronavirus has infected over 23.32 crore people and caused more than 47.73 lakh deaths since the pandemic broke out in December 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Australia’s Victoria state reported a record 1,438 new cases on Thursday, Reuters reported. Nearly one-third of the cases could be attributed to house parties organised last weekend to watch a football match.