Coronavirus: India reports 18K+ new cases, lowest in 209 days
What's the story
India on Tuesday reported over 18,000 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest spike in 209 days.
The daily positivity rate, which has been under 3% for the last 36 days, was recorded at 1.61%.
The number of active cases also touched a 201-day low, amounting to just 0.75% of the total cases.
The recovery rate stood at 97.93%, the highest since March 2020.
Statistics
India's tally stands at over 3.38cr; over 4.49 lakh dead
According to the Union Health Ministry, till Tuesday morning, India reported a total of 3,38,53,048 COVID-19 cases. The death toll has reached 4,49,260.
So far, 3,31,50,886 patients have recovered, while 2,52,902 cases involve active infections.
In the past 24 hours, India recorded 18,346 new infections, 29,639 more discharges, and 263 fresh fatalities.
91,54,65,826 vaccine doses have been administered so far.
Trend
India's second wave peaked on May 7
India's second wave peaked on May 7, when 4.14 lakh single-day cases were reported, over four times the number of cases reported during the first wave in mid-September 2020.
Although infections have declined since the second wave peaked, India crossed the 3 crore-mark on June 23.
India had crossed the 1 crore-mark on December 19, 2020, and the 2 crore-mark on May 4, 2021.
States
48% new cases concentrated in Kerala
Maharashtra reported 2,026 new COVID-19 cases along with 5,389 more recoveries.
Kerala, the second worst-hit state after Maharashtra, reported 8,850 new cases and 17,007 discharges.
Meanwhile, Karnataka, the third worst-hit state, added 397 new cases and 693 recoveries.
Tamil Nadu, the fourth worst-hit state, reported 1,467 new cases and 1,559 recoveries.
Andhra Pradesh reported 429 new cases and 1,029 recoveries.
WHO
WHO panel to meet over COVAXIN clearance today
An expert panel of the World Health Organization (WHO) is expected to meet on Tuesday to take a call on the grant of emergency use authorization to Bharat Biotech's COVAXIN.
Reportedly, the WHO is likely to clear the vaccine this month.
India will also launch the next phase of the WHO's Solidarity trial—Solidarity PLUS—to check the efficacy of new drugs to treat COVID-19 patients.
Deaths
Weekly global COVID-19 deaths lowest in nearly a year: Report
Further, the weekly number of COVID-19 deaths globally has dropped to the lowest in nearly a year, according to a tally by Agence France-Presse.
Between September 27 and October 3, 53,245 COVID-19 deaths were reported worldwide, i.e., an average of 7,606 fatalities a day, down from roughly 10,000 daily deaths around August end.
This is the lowest figure recorded since October 31-November 6, 2020.