Delhi overtakes Mumbai in case tally; US sees Covid-19 making deadly return

India registered nearly 17,000 coronavirus cases on Wednesday, taking its total count to 473,105,  an increase of 3.7% according to the Health Ministry. Around 14,900 people have died in the country from Covid-19 so far, with 418 fatalities being reported in the past 24 hours. With 13,012 new recoveries, India’s recovery rate has improved to 57.4%; and death rate has come down marginally to 3.1%.
 

National capital Delhi and financial capital Mumbai account for 40 per cent of the total number of Covid-19 deaths across India. And, Delhi has overtaken Mumbai in the total number of Covid-19 cases. While Delhi's tally has risen to over 70,000, Mumbai has so far reported 69,625 positive cases.
 

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that the Indian economy faces an even deeper downturn than projected in April as the country grapples with the Covid-19 pandemic. It has projected a sharp contraction of 4.5 per cent in FY21, a steep drop from its April forecast of a 1.9 per cent expansion. The international body has called this a "historic low" for India.
 

Well, the price war for antiviral drug remdesivir has already begun in the domestic pharmaceutical market between two Indian drug majors — Cipla and Hetero Healthcare. Hetero has priced the injectable drug at Rs 5,400 per 100 mg vial, while Cipla is saying the price should be less than Rs 5,000 per vial. Each patient will need six vials for the course of treatment.
 

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said that he expects the number of Covid-19 cases across the globe to reach 10 million next week. Hospital administrators and health care experts have warned that parts of the US could be on the verge of becoming overwhelmed by a resurgence of coronavirus, lamenting that politicians and a tired-of-being-cooped-up public were letting a disaster unfold. 

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