On Sunday India recorded 1,65,553 new Covid-19 cases and 3,460 deaths due to the infection. India saw a total of 2,76,309 discharges in the last 24 hours, taking the total recovery to 2,54,54,320. The total number of cases in India has mounted to 2,78,94,800, with 21,14,508 active cases. The total death toll in the country is now at 3,25,972.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet last evening said that the government will provide support to children who have lost their parents to Covid. Free education will be ensured for them and they will get help in seeking higher education loans, an official statement read.
"It is our duty, as a society, to care for our children and instill hope for a bright future," the Prime Minister said. Delhi, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra among other states have also announced relief measures for such children.
"COVID-19 has made it glaringly clear that no one shall be safe till everyone is. Collaborations at a global level are necessary to end this pandemic and be better prepared for the next one," Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan said in a tweet last evening.
The Health Ministry on Saturday evening wrote to all states on some private hospitals giving vaccination in collaboration with luxury hotels. It's against the guidelines issued for the National Covid Vaccination Program, the government insisted.
Delhi and Kerala have extended restrictions to check the spread of coronavirus. In the national capital, manufacturing and construction businesses have been allowed to resume work with conditions.
The central government on Saturday said that the production of anti-viral drug Remdesivir - used in the treatment of Covid patients has been ramped up 10 times from 33,000 vials per day on April 11 to 3.5 lakh vials every day. The center will no longer allocate the drug to the center, considering the supply is more than the demand.
India has so far vaccinated 21 crore people. The government aims to vaccinate the entire country by the end of this year.
The Pfizer vaccine is slightly less effective but appears to still protect against the more transmissible Covid variant found in India, according to a study by France's Pasteur Institute, news agency AFP reported.
Worldwide, over 16 crore people have got affected by Covid so far; over 35 lakh have died.
Inputs From ANI and AFP
