Online Desk

India reported 41,806 fresh cases and 581 more fatalities due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the last 24 hours, taking the caseload and death toll to 30,987,880 and 411,989 respectively, according to the Union health ministry’s update on Thursday. As many as 39,130 patients recovered from the viral disease in the said period, taking the cumulative count of recoveries to 30,143,850, the bulletin released at 8am showed. The active cases stand at 432,041 and constitute 1.39 per cent of the caseload.

Thursday’s case count is 3,014 more than that of Wednesday’s when 38,792 people were detected Covid-19 positive. On other hand, Thursday’s toll is 43 less/more than that of Wednesday’s when 624 deaths were reported.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Thursday that a total of 438,011,958 samples have been tested for the Covid-19 disease so far of which 1,943,488 were tested in the last 24 hours.
Over 390 million doses of the vaccine against Covid-19 have been administered to eligible beneficiaries till now, the Union health ministry said, adding more than 3.21 million doses were administered on Wednesday.

As people are continuing to flock hill stations and other tourist spots in the country, stoking fears of a more severe third wave of the pandemic, the Union home ministry said on Wednesday that there is no room for complacency and everyone should adhere to Covid-appropriate behaviour. For the past several days, videos surfaced on social media platforms have shown massive gatherings of people in prominent tourist destinations without adherence to the basic norms such as wearing of masks and ensuring social distancing.

Pointing out at the "blatant violations" of Covid norms at hill stations, tourist spots and market places, the MHA instructed states and Union Territories (UTs) to act against officials who fail to ensure compliance to the guidelines. In a letter to states and UTs, Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla said, “Blatant violations of Covid norms have been observed in several parts of the country, especially in public transport and at hill stations. Massive crowds are also thronging the market places, violating norms of social distancing.”

The Union home ministry’s remarks come just a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said it was a matter of concern that huge crowds were thronging hill stations and markets without wearing masks or social distancing, adding everyone has to work together to stop the third wave of the pandemic.

Source: Hindustan Times