New Delhi: India crossed the grim milestone of 5 lakh COVID-19 deaths on Thursday, becoming the third country in the world to do so after the US and Brazil. The country took 217 days to reach 5 lakh deaths from 4 lakh recorded on July 1 last year, the longest time taken to record 1 lakh fatalities. Meanwhile, the third wave of the pandemic continues to slow down as states report a decreasing trend of fresh COVID cases since the past few weeks. Till Friday morning, India had reported 1,49,394 fresh COVID cases which were 13 per cent lower than the previous day's tally, 2,46,674 recoveries, and 1072 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Maharashtra on Friday recorded 13,840 fresh coronavirus cases, a drop of 1,412 from a day ago, and 81 fresh fatalities, while 27,891 more patients recovered from the infection. Meanwhile, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Friday said COVID-19 cases are declining in the state and the infection is likely to reach an endemic stage by March. Mumbai on Friday reported 846 new coronavirus cases and seven deaths, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. The tally of infections in the city rose to 10,50,194 and the death toll to 16,654. On the second day in a row, the city reported less than 1,000 COVID-19 cases. On Thursday, Mumbai had reported 827 new cases and seven fatalities.
Gujarat reported 6,097 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 11,91,634, while the toll increased by 35 to touch 10,614.
Assam maintained its declining trend in COVID-19 infection on Friday reporting 739 positive cases which is 280 less than that of the previous day. The number of deaths due to the disease too dropped to 15 from the previous day's 19 taking the toll in the state to 6,533.
Daily COVID-19 cases continued to show a declining trend in Telangana on Friday, with 2,387 fresh infections being reported. The state recorded 2,850 cases on February 1, 2,646 cases on February 2 and 2,421 on February 3.
West Bengal's COVID-19 tally rose to 20,03,692 on Friday as 1,523 more people tested positive for the infection, 393 less than the previous day, a health bulletin said. Thirty-five more patients succumbed to the infection, pushing the state's coronavirus death toll to 20,758.
Delhi on Friday reported 2,272 fresh COVID-19 cases and 20 deaths, while the positivity rate dropped to 3.85 per cent. With this, the national capital's case count increased to 18,40,919 and the death toll climbed to 25,952. Schools in Delhi will reopen for all classes from nursery onwards as will gyms with certain restrictions and drivers travelling alone in cars will be exempted from wearing masks, the city government announced on Friday while relaxing Covid restrictions in view of the dip in cases. Night curfew will continue but from 11 pm instead of 10 pm. The DDMA also allowed restaurants to remain open till 11 pm.
The COVID-19 tally in Madhya Pradesh rose to 9,95,049 on Friday after the detection of 6,516 new cases, down from 7,430 a day ago, while the death toll increased to 10,648 after nine more patients succumbed to the infection in the state.
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Continuing to report a declining trend on new Covid-19 cases, Tamil Nadu on Friday saw the daily cases fall below the 10,000 mark with 9,916 infections, pushing the tally to 33,97,238.
Karnataka on Friday registered a further decline in daily coronavirus infections, as the state reported 14,950 new cases and 53 fatalities, taking the tally to 38,75,724 and toll to 39,250. The Karnataka government on Friday decided to allow theatres, gyms, yoga centres and swimming pools in the state to operate at full capacity. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai with the Health Minister, senior officials and technical advisory committee representatives.
Meghalaya's COVID-19 tally rose to 92,021 on Friday as 211 more people tested positive for the infection, while two fresh fatalities pushed the northeastern state's coronavirus death toll to 1,538.
The declining trend in daily Covid cases continued in Jammu and Kashmir with 1,429 being reported on Friday.
Daily COVID-19 cases in Kerala further decreased on Friday with the state recording 38,684 fresh infections which raised the total caseload to 62,11,116. The state had reported 42,677 COVID-19 cases on Thursday. Meanwhile, the State Government on Friday decided to start offline classes for students from February 7. "The classes for 10, 11 and 12th standards and college students will begin from February 7. The classes for children from standard 1 to 9, creche and kindergarten will start from February 14," a release issued by the Chief Minister's Office said.
Active cases continued to decline in Andhra Pradesh as the state reported 4,198 fresh infections in the 24 hours ending 9 am on Friday.
Tripura recorded 62 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, six less than the previous day, pushing the tally to 1,00,584.
The Rajasthan government Friday issued revised guidelines for relaxing restrictions, including lifting the night curfew from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.In the new guidelines, applicable from Saturday, the limit of 100 people at wedding ceremonies, social gatherings, public functions, and religious activities have been increased to 250.Also, the religious centres closed earlier in wake of the third wave have been opened now, and devotees shall now be able to offer prasad, and garlands, which were banned earlier. Rajasthan reported 8,073 COVID-19 cases and 22 fatalities on Thursday.
Around 169 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have so far been administered in the country, the Union health ministry said on Friday. Over 42 lakh (42,95,142) vaccine doses were administered till 7 pm on Friday.
(With agency inputs)
