Cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) dipped again on Saturday as India recorded 44,111 fresh infections, taking the country’s cumulative tally past 30.5 million, the Union health ministry’s data showed. And 738 related fatalities were recorded in the last 24 hours, lower than 853 on Friday, pushing India’s death toll to 401,050 so far.
India’s active cases of Covid-19 also dropped further by 14,104 in the last 24 hours and settled at 495,533, accounting for 1.67% of total infection. The country’s recovery rate stood at 97.01% on Saturday, as more people were cured of the coronavirus disease and outnumbered the daily new cases for nearly two months.
The health minister data showed that 34,46,11,291 people have been vaccinated in the country so far, out of which 4,399,298 were vaccinated in the last 24 hours.
Covid-19 cases in India dipped below 50,000 for the first time on June 21 and have since remained stagnant in the bracket of 30,000-50,000. The country has seen a sharp fall of Covid-19 cases in the second wave after they peaked with 414,188 fresh infections on May 6.
However, experts have cautioned people saying they need to follow Covid appropriate norms. NITI Aayog member VK Paul said close monitoring is crucial at this stage and the country “cannot lower its guard”. “As we are seeing in Europe right now, the disease transmission has started growing again, with cases dropped to 50 per million at point, which is now almost double… It is in our control to ensure India doesn’t see the third wave,” he said.