India on Saturday recorded 8,318 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, pushing the overall tally of infections to 3,45,63749 since the pandemic began in January last year. The number of new cases was 21.14% lower than Friday’s count of 10,549 cases.

The toll rose to 4,67,933 as the country recorded 465 more deaths in the last 24 hours.

The number of active coronavirus cases in the country currently stands at 1,07,019, and the country’s active caseload decreased by 3,114. The number of patients being treated are currently the lowest in 541 days, or about 18 months.

A total of 3,39,88,797 people have recovered from Covid-19 in the country so far. The recovery rate is currently 98.34%.

Till now, India has administered 1,21,06,58,262 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. Of these, 73,58,017 vaccine doses were administered on Friday.

Other updates

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a review meeting with senior government officials on the coronavirus situation in India on Saturday, ANI reported. Officials who will be present at the meeting include Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Principal Secretary to the prime minister PK Mishra, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, and NITI Aayog member (health) Dr VK Paul.
  • The Supreme Court on Friday said that it cannot cast doubts on Covid-19 vaccines and said that there are “huge merits” of vaccination. The court was hearing a public interest litigation seeking directions to the Centre to follow up on and record deaths occurring within 30 days of immunisation.  
  • Ninety-nine more medical students and faculty members tested positive in Karnataka’s Dharwad town, ANI reported. With this, the total number of medical students who have tested positive for the virus in the district to 281.

Global updates

  • The World Health Organization on Friday classified the B.1.1.529 strain of the coronavirus as a “variant of concern” and named it “Omicron”. The global health body said that the new variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning.
  • United States President Joe Biden said that the country will ban most travellers from eight countries in southern Africa from November 29 due to the new coronavirus variant, Reuters reported. The restrictions will not apply to Americans and lawful permanent residents of the country.  
  • United States-based pharmaceutical company Moderna announced on Friday that it will develop a booster shot against the Omicron variant of Covid-19, AFP reported. The booster shot is one of three strategies that the company is formulating to deal with the variant, the company said.
  • The coronavirus has infected over 26.06 crore people across the world and caused over 51.88 lakh deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.