New Delhi: The health ministry data revealed 72,108 new cases of COVID in the past 24 hours. Amongst these 5,80,379 citizens are reported active. With a reduced recovery rate, only 40,421 individuals recuperated after hospital treatment. The novel virus claimed around 458 lives, this took the overall death toll of the nation to 1,62,960.
Underscoring the need for saturation vaccination in districts with a high caseload, the Centre has written to the Chief Secretaries,” within two weeks, vaccination should be prioritized for age group of 45 years and above.”
At the Delhi Airport passengers arriving will be tested and those resulting positive will be mandated to observe isolation. Testing at the bus stops will be implemented next. In the past 24 hours, Maharashtra reported 39,544 new coronavirus cases, its second-highest single-day rise in infection tally since the pandemic began. With this, the state’s cumulative caseload mounted to 28,12,980. 277 deaths across the state pushed the mortality count to 54,649. State capital Mumbai reported 5,399 new COVID-19 cases, which pushed its total to 4,14,773. It also reported 15 deaths, due to which its fatality count grew to 11,690. While Thane, Pune, and Pimpri Chinchwad report a similar spike.
State Health Minister Rajesh Tope announced a reduction in the rates of coronavirus RT-PCR tests to ₹ 500 from ₹ 1,000. The charges for rapid antigen tests were also brought down. Dr Pradeep Vyas, principal secretary of the public health department, said,” The new rates for RT-PCR test are fixed at ₹ 500, ₹ 600 and ₹ 800. For giving samples at the collection centre, ₹ 500 will be charged. For the same test at a Covid Care Centre or a quarantine centre, the charges will be ₹ 600 and to collect the swab from home, the labs can charge ₹ 800.”