India on Thursday morning recorded 45,892 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, pushing the country’s overall count since the pandemic broke out in January 2020 to 3,07,09,557. This is a 5% increase from the daily infections count recorded on Wednesday.

However, the number of new infections outnumbered the daily recoveries. In the last 24 hours, the country registered 44,291 recoveries. The country’s toll rose to 4,05,028 with 817 more deaths recorded in a span of 24 hours. The number of active cases in the country stood at 4,60,704.

The Centre on Wednesday raised concerns about the surge in coronavirus cases in nine states. This includes Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Kerala, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Tripura and Sikkim. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan asked these states to focus on testing and vaccination.

The Uttarakhand High Court directed the state government to review its decision to relax Covid-19 restrictions. A bench of Chief Justice RS Chauhan and Justice Alok Kumar Verma said that the tourists may spread the Delta plus variant of the coronavirus in the state.

A total of 36,48,47,549 beneficiaries have been vaccinated against Covid-19, of which 33,81,671 received their shots on Wednesday alone. Meanwhile, the vaccination drive in Gujarat will remain suspended for two more days, reported The New Indian Express. However, the state government did not reveal the reasons.

The World Health Organization updated its patient care guidelines to include the drugs that are lifesaving in critically ill Covid-19 patients. The world health body recommended interleukin-6 receptor blockers – tocilizumab and sarilumab – for the treatment of patients who are severely or critically ill.

Globally, the coronavirus disease has infected over 18.50 crore people and killed more than 40 lakh since the pandemic broke out in December 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, however, said the four million figure was an underestimate of the actual toll. “The world is at a perilous point in this pandemic,” he added.