India on Tuesday morning recorded 1,67,059 new coronavirus cases, pushing the total number of infections in the country to 4,14,69,499 since the pandemic began in January 2020.

In the past 24 hours, 1,192 people died due to the virus, taking the official toll to 4,96,242. The toll includes 638 backlog deaths that Kerala added to its tally of fatalities on Monday, data from the Union health ministry showed.

The number of new cases was 20.41% fewer than Monday’s count of 2,09,918. The daily test positivity rate also dropped to 11.69% from 15.77% on Monday, government data showed. There are 17,43,059 active cases of Covid-19 in the country as on Tuesday morning.

(Source: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare)

Meanwhile, India began administering the second dose of the coronavirus vaccine to the 15-18 age group on Monday. So far, 4,70,14,057 Covid-19 vaccine jabs have been administered to the children in that age group, according to data available on CoWin portal.

On Monday, the Maharashtra and West Bengal governments relaxed Covid-19 restrictions across their state.

Maharashtra allowed national parks, safaris and tourist spots to remain open as per regular timings, reported The Indian Express. The government also permitted spas to function with 50% capacity and removed the cap on the number of people allowed at funerals.

Bengal changed the night curfew timing across the state to 11 pm till 5 am instead of earlier 10 pm to 5 am, reported Mint. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that restaurants, bars and cinema halls can operate with 75% capacity. Parks and tourist places will also reopen.

Schools and colleges were allowed to reopen in Jharkhand from Tuesday amid an improving situation related to the coronavirus in the state, PTI reported.

In seven districts – Ranchi, East Singhbhum, Chatra, Deoghar, Saraikela, Simdega and Bokaro – schools have been allowed to reopen for classes 9 to 12. In the other districts of the state, schools can reopen for all classes.

Schools in Tamil Nadu also reopened for classes 1 to 12 on Tuesday, IANS reported. The state government has directed that coronavirus-related protocols should be strictly implemented in the state.

Global updates

The United States’ Food and Drug Administration on Monday granted full approval to pharmaceutical firm Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine for adults, Reuters reported. It was earlier authorised only for emergency use.

This is the second Covid-19 vaccine to have received full approval from the United States authority, after the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that people of the country were disgusted by those protesting against vaccine mandates, The Guardian reported on Monday.

Thousands of people held protests at Parliament Hill in the country’s capital city of Ottawa and blockaded parts of the city with trucks and other vehicles to protest vaccine mandates. The protests were sparked by a new rule that requires truck drivers entering Canada to be fully vaccinated.

Meawhile, the Indonesian government said on Monday that the island of Bali will reopen for tourists from all countries later this week, according to Reuters. In October, the tourist destination opened for people from China, New Zealand, Japan and some other countries.