Coronavirus India Reports: India’s active Covid-19 infections cross 2.2 lakh once again, even as the country’s inoculation drive picks up pace.
Authorities detected about 24,500 fresh coronavirus cases in 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry’s update at 8 a.m. on March 16. That’s higher than the 20,200 recoveries in the same period of time.
More than 100 people lost their lives to the disease in a day, taking total Covid-19 related fatalities above 1.58 lakh.
China Reports 13 New Cases
China has reported 13 new Covid cases on March 15, up from five cases a day earlier, the national health authority said on Tuesday. The National Health Commission said in a statement that all of the new cases were imported infections originating from overseas. The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, fell to seven from nine a day earlier.
Maharashtra: Thane’s Covid-19 count rises by 983, death toll jumps by 6
With the addition of 983 new cases of coronavirus, the infection count in Maharashtra’s Thane district has gone up to 2,77,569,an official said on Tuesday. These new cases were reported on Monday, he said. Six more people also died of the viral infection, raising the toll in the district to 6,343, he said, adding that the Covid-19 mortality rate in Thane is 2.29 per cent.
WHO: Countries may still use AstraZeneca vaccine
The chief scientist of the World Health Organization is recommending that countries continue to use the AstraZeneca vaccine for now despite concerns about blood clots in some people who have received it. Dr. Soumya Swaminathan says officials at the U.N. health agency don’t want people to panic even as close monitoring of the vaccine’s use continues. She said a review is under way that could produce updated recommendations as early as Tuesday.