2.57 Lakh New Covid Cases In India, Highest Testing In A Day: 10 Highlights

India recorded 2.57 lakh fresh Covid cases and 4,194 deaths in the last 24 hours. The country saw a new record with 20,66,285 samples tested since yesterday. The overall case count rushed past the 2.62 crore-mark this morning.

Here are ten highlights on this big story:

1.India has been recording over 2 lakh fresh infections daily for nearly a week now. The country’s daily cases dropped below the 3 lakh-mark for the first time since April 21 earlier this week. Nearly 30,000 Covid patients have died since May 15.

2. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday stressed on micro containment strategies in rural parts and underlined that Mucormycosis, commonly known as Black Fungus, has urgedly as a new challenge in the fight against Covid.

3. The government on Friday said more than 19.32 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far. In the 18-44 age group, over 92.7 lakh people have been vaccinated. “Our relentless efforts towards enormously increasing production and supply of COVID-19 vaccines in the country shall ensure that we are able to inoculate our entire adult population by the end of 2021,” Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Friday.

4. Delhi’s positivity rate fell below 5 per cent on Friday in a first since April 4. The national capital has been under a strict lockdown since April 19. In the city, which buckled under the pressure of India’s second wave, tough restrictions have helped in examining the spread of the virus.

5. Karnataka and Kerala have extended the lockdown to break the chain on transmission. In Karnataka, restrictions have been extended by another two weeks, and will now be in force till June 7. Kerala lockdown has been extended till May 30.

6. Tamil Nadu observed a 17 per cent increase in daily deaths with 467 deaths linked to Covid reported on Friday as compared to 397 deaths a day ago. The number of new infections was 1 per cent higher than Thursday’s 35,579 which was its highest ever.

7. The central government has sent advisory to states on Mucormycosis. “Ensure robust practices of infection prevention and control and sanitation and hygiene in hospitals for prevention and control of secondary and opportunistic fungal infections,” the centre has told the states.

8. The Health Ministry on Friday said the central government will make proactive efforts for significantly ramping up domestic production of Amphotericin-B drug, an anti-fungal drug for the treatment of Black Fungus disease.

9. Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan held a meeting with representatives of nine states and union territories on Friday on coronavirus. “Aggressive implementation of test, track and treat strategy is essential to curb the transmission of COVID-19,” he said.

10. Worldwide, over 16.61 crore cases have been logged since the pandemic broke; 34 lakh people have died.