Covid-19: India’s Daily Caseload Declines to 38,079; 560 Fresh Deaths

India’s cumulative tally of Covid-19 rose to 31,064,908 on Saturday after 38,079 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours, according to the Union ministry of health and family welfare.

As many as 560 fatalities and 43,916 new recoveries were reported in the past day, taking the death toll to 41,3091 and 30,227,792, respectively, reports the Hindustan Times.

The active caseload witnessed a drop by 6,397, and now stands at 424,025, constituting 1.39 per cent of the total number of Covid-19 cases.

Saturday’s figures are 870 less than Friday’s 38,949 fresh cases. Meanwhile, the death toll is 18 more than the preceding day when 542 fatalities were reported.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Saturday that a total of 44,20,21,954 samples have been tested for Covid-19 so far in the country, of which, 19,98,715 accounts for the last 24 hours.

This comes as the joint secretary of the Union health ministry, Luv Aggarwal, on Friday cautioned against the declining usage of masks owing to the resumption of several daily activities.

In a weekly press briefing, he referred to a graph that showed mask usage reached its peak in India in May but the trend has been on a steady decline in June and July.

The graph also projected that mask usage will further decrease in August and September, against which the central government warned.

Amid the probability of a third wave, photographs of tourists thronging to popular tourist destinations in the northern hill states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh have created concerns.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court warned Uttar Pradesh against holding Kanwar Yatra this year amid Covid-19. On Friday, the top court said that the state “cannot go ahead with the Kanwar Yatra – 100 per cent,” and asked Uttar Pradesh to either withdraw its decision to permit the annual pilgrimage or receive an order from the court.

Notably, the Uttarakhand government has already scrapped the Kanwar Yatra this year, with chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami saying that people’s lives are the government’s first priority.