With India reporting 69,878 cases and 945 deaths in the last 24 hours, the total number of coronavirus infections in the country rose to 29,75,702 and the death toll reached 55,794 on Saturday.

Currently, India has 6,97,330 active cases while 22,22,578 people have been treated and discharged. The recovery rate has soared past 74.69 per cent and the case fatality rate has also dropped further to 1.87 per cent, the Union Health Ministry said.

Also, a cumulative total of 3,44,91,073 samples have been tested up to August 21 with 10,23,836 samples being tested on Friday, the highest done in a day so far.

With the daily growth rate continuing to slow down, the doubling time of novel Coronavirus cases in India has now dropped to 30 days. However, because of the different growth rates, the doubling times in states vary widely. Delhi has a doubling time of about 100 days, corresponding to the fact that its daily growth rate has been less than one per cent for a very long time now. Among the states with large caseloads, only Punjab, Kerala, Odisha and Jharkhand have doubling times less than 20 days right now. With Bihar elections in sight, the Election Commission has issued guidelines for holding polls during the coronavirus pandemic.

Globally, 22,949,234 people have been infected with the virus so far, including over 7.9 lakh who died. The United States continued to be worst affected followed by Brazil and India. China, where the virus was first reported in December last year, has announced that people living in Beijing are no longer required to wear masks outdoors, a second such announcement since May when it was reversed after a recurrence of coronavirus cases in the city. Meanwhile, the head of the World Health Organisation said he hopes the world can end the coronavirus pandemic in less than two years.

Source: The Indian Express