No Covid deaths in last 24 hrs in 18 states, UTs

New Delhi: At a time when the states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, etc have started registering more number of active cases, the report of no Covid-19 deaths in 18 states/UTs in the last 24 hours has come as a big relief for the Union Health ministry.

States like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh have not reported any death due to Covid-19 in the last 24 hours and India's cumulative recoveries have been showing a progressive increment on a daily basis.

"The states of Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Puducherry, Himachal Pradesh, Lakshadweep, Manipur, Ladakh, Assam, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu have also reported no deaths due to Covid-19 in the last 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement.

However, with 11,610 fresh cases, India's Covid tally climbed to 1,09,37,320, while the number of recoveries has surged to 1,06,44,858.

The death toll due to Coronavirus has gone up to 1,55,913 in the country with 100 more fatalities reported in the last 24 hours and the number of people who have recovered from the disease has climbed to 1,06,44,858, which translates to a national recovery rate of 97.33 per cent, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.43 per cent.

There are 1,36,549 active cases of the Coronavirus infection in the country currently, which account for only 1.25 per cent of its total caseload, the Health ministry's data stated.

As per the ministry's provisional report, total 91,86,757 beneficiaries have been vaccinated against Covid through 1,98,352 sessions held till 6 pm on Wednesday. The beneficiaries include 65,21,785 healthcare workers and 26,64,972 frontline workers, while the second dose of vaccination has been administered to 3,42,116 healthcare workers, which is 42.4 per cent of the total eligible beneficiaries.

In a single day, a total of 1,87,527 vaccine doses were given till 6 pm as part of the nationwide vaccination drive that began on January 16. On Wednesday, 6,979 sessions of the vaccination were held in 33 states/UTs.

There are nine states that have reported above 75 per cent vaccination coverage. Among them, Bihar has reported the highest 84.7 per cent coverage of vaccination followed by Tripura which has inoculated 82.3 per cent eligible beneficiaries.

In Odisha, 81.5 per cent of healthcare workers have been administered the first dose of the vaccine while Gujarat has vaccinated 80.2 per cent and Chhattisgarh has completed 78.8 per cent of vaccination.

Madhya Pradesh has reported 76.7 per cent vaccination coverage followed by Uttarakhand (76.6 per cent) and Himachal Pradesh (75.1 per cent).

Meanwhile, with cases of the South Africa and Brazil variants of the Sars-CoV-2 virus being detected in India, the Union ministry of Civil Aviation on Wednesday released updated Standard Operating Procedure for international passengers arriving in India. The updated SOP, the ministry said, will come in effect at 11: 59 pm on February 22.