A total of 20 persons in India have been found with the mutant variant of SARS- CoV-2 virus reported from the United Kingdom, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). These include the six persons reported earlier — three in NIMHANS, Bengaluru, two in CCMB, Hyderabad and one in NIV, Pune. Government of India has constituted the INSACOG (Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium) comprising 10 labs (NIBMG Kolkata, ILS Bhubaneswar, NIV Pune, CCS Pune, CCMB Hyderabad, CDFD Hyderabad, InSTEM Bengaluru, NIMHANS Bengaluru, IGIB Delhi, NCDC Delhi) for genome sequencing. The situation is under careful watch and regular advice is being provided to the states for enhanced surveillance, containment, testing and dispatch of samples to the INSACOG labs. Daily recoveries have outnumbered the daily new cases of COVID-19 since last 33 days successively. In the last 24 hours, 20,549 persons were found to be COVID-19 positive in the country. During the same period, 26,572 new recoveries were registered ensuring drop in the active caseload. India’s cumulative recoveries stand at 98,34,141 today. This is the highest globally. The recovery rate has also reached nearly 96 per cent (95.99 per cent). The gap between recoveries and active cases is consistently widening (95,71,869). India’s total active caseload of 2,62,272 consists of just 2.56 per cent of India’s total positive cases. The new recoveries have led to a net decline of 6,309 in the total active cases. When compared globally, India’s cases per million population are amongst the lowest in the world (7,423). Countries such as Russia, Italy, the UK, Brazil, France and the US have much higher cases per million population. Around 78.44 per cent of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 states/UTs, the ministry said. Maharashtra has reported the maximum number of single day recoveries with 5,572 newly recovered cases. 5,029 people recovered in Kerala followed by 1,607 in Chhattisgarh. Around 79.24 per cent of the new cases are from 10 states and UTs. Kerala reported the highest daily new cases at 5,887. It is followed by Maharashtra with 3,018 new cases. West Bengal recorded 1,244 new cases. A total of 286 case fatalities have been reported in the past 24 hours. Ten states/UTs account for 79.37 per cent of the new deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (68). West Bengal and Delhi follow with 30 and 28 daily deaths, respectively. Focussed measures including aggressive and targeted testing, early identification of the positive cases, timely isolation and prompt hospitalisation of the severe cases (and supervised home isolation of the mild cases) and Standard Treatment Protocol have collectively ensured that the daily fatalities are under 300. Daily deaths in India are on a sustained decline. Deaths per million population in India (107) are amongst the lowest in the world.
