Latest News LIVE Updates: Over 30 Crore Indians May Have COVID-19, Source Cites Government Study
The death count increased to 1,54,596 with 110 daily new fatalities. (File)
New Delhi:
About one in four of India’s 135 crore people may have been infected with the coronavirus, said a source with direct knowledge of a government serological survey, suggesting the country’s real caseload was many times higher than reported.
India has confirmed 1.08 crore COVID-19 infections, the most anywhere outside the United States.
But the survey, whose findings are much more conservative than a private one from last week, indicates India’s actual cases may have crossed 30 crore. The state-run Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which conducted the survey, said it would only share the findings at a news conference on Thursday.
The source declined to be named ahead of the official announcement. It was not immediately clear how many people participated in the latest survey.
Following another survey done in August and September using blood samples of more than 29,000 people older than 10, ICMR had concluded that one in 15 Indians had COVID-19 antibodies. The figure jumped to one in six in densely-populated urban slums.
India’s COVID-19 tally of cases rose to 1,07,77,284 with 11,039 new infections being reported in a day, while the recoveries surged to 1,04,62,631, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.
The death count increased to 1,54,596 with 110 daily new fatalities, the data showed.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,04,62,631 pushing the national COVID-19 recovery rate of 97.08 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.43 per cent. The total COVID-19 active cases remained below 2 lakh.
There are 1,60,057 active coronavirus infections in the country which comprises 1.49 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.
Here are the Latest News Live Updates:
Oxford University announced on Thursday it will launch a medical trial alternating doses of Covid-19 vaccines created by different manufacturers, the first study of its kind.
The trial will show whether different Covid doses — those created by the Astrazeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech pharmaceutical companies — can be used interchangeably to allow greater flexibility in pressured vaccine delivery schedules.
The British government’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Jonathan Van-Tam, said the trial would offer “greater insight” into the use of vaccines against Covid.
“Given the inevitable challenges of immunising large numbers of the population against Covid-19 and potential global supply constraints, there are definite advantages to having data that could support a more flexible immunisation programme,” Van-Tam said.
Personnel of the Haryana Police are all set to receive their COVID-19 shots, in the second phase of the vaccination drive that begins from Thursday.
As per a statement, the Director-General of Police Manoj Yadava volunteered to be the first to receive the vaccine and will inaugurate the vaccination drive at Police Headquarter, Sector-6, Panchkula at around 11 am.
A spokesperson of the Haryana Police said that the entire police force had worked continuously on the front line when Covid-19 was at its peak, and their efforts had also been consistently recognized at the national level.
“Besides maintaining law and order, each of our officers and jawans fearlessly ensured food to the poor and needy, safe home return of migrant workers and labourers and take care of the elderly. In the lockdown, the humane face of the police comes to fore and that is why police efforts were also consistently recognized at the national level”, the spokesperson said.
There are currently 1,055 active cases in Haryana, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. As many as 2,63,989 recoveries and 3,023 deaths have been reported so far.
The Indian Medical Association has expressed shock at the central government stating in Rajya Sabha that 162 doctors died due to coronavirus in the country.
It appealed that a high-power committee be constituted by the government to do a thorough study of the entire data of doctors who have died, and that all those who had died due to the disease will be honoured.
Minister of State for Health Ashwini Kumar Choubey had on Tuesday informed the Upper House of Parliament that COVID-19 has so far claimed the lives of 162 doctors, 107 nurses and 44 ASHA workers in the country.
