India Coronavirus Dispatch: Fresh daily cases lowest in 91 days

Nearly half of Delhi's over 45s are partially vaccinated against Covid, a man given two doses of vaccine in a span of 30 minutes, and more-news relevant to India's fight against the pandemic

Over 42,000 fresh cases reported

India reported 42,640 fresh coronavirus infections on Tuesday, taking the cumulative caseload to just under 30 million, according to central health ministry data. The country saw 1,167 deaths due to the pandemic, taking the death toll to 389,302. The active caseload is at 662,521, while the total recoveries have surged to 28.9 million. As many as 288.7 million vaccine shots have been administered since the nationwide inoculation programme kicked off on January 16. Of these, 8.6 million were given on Monday. Read more

Andhra created a record even before India vaccinated 8.5 million in a day

Even before India inoculated a record 8.5 million people on the first day of a new drive on Monday this week, Andhra Pradesh set a record of sorts by vaccinating nearly 1.4 million people on Sunday, a report in The Print said. The main factor behind this was the fact that the state received the doses in bulk from the central government over two days last week. The state’s health department says it can better that record as it can vaccinate 2 million people a day. Read more

Nearly half of Delhi’s over 45s are partially vaccinated

Nearly half of Delhi's population over the age of 45 has received at least one dose of Covid vaccine as of Monday this week, a report in The Indian Express said. As many as 47% of the 5.7 million people in this bracket have been at least partially vaccinated, according to data shared by the Delhi administration. Nearly 1 million people in this demographic have been fully vaccinated. Delhi’s total population is estimated to be about 20 million, the report said. Read more

Man given two doses of Covid vaccine in a span of 30 minutes

In Odisha's Mayurbhanj district, a 51-year-old man was administered two shots of the Covid vaccine in a span of half hour, a report from PTI said. A nurse administered the second dose by mistake as the man was seated at the vaccination area instead of going to the observation room after receiving the first shot. The man was asked to undergo observation for two more hours. No adverse reaction has been reported. Read more

Two labs move HC over fake testing charges at Kumbh

Two labs accused of carrying out fake tests during the Mahakumbh have moved the Uttarakhand high court to quash a police complaint against them, a report in the Hindustan Times said. This comes even as a police special investigation team (SIT) has issued notices to the two labs. “The labs conducted tests at nominal ₹206 per test and (the) total bill for these tests was around ₹24.74 lakh and not crores of rupees reported by media. So there is not an iota of truth in the allegation that crores of rupees have been embezzled by the lab. The petitioners are becoming victims of a media trial”, said a counsel for one of the Labs. Read more