30,549 fresh coronavirus reported in India
30,549 new Covid cases and 422 deaths were reported in India in the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry said Tuesday morning – a drop of 24 per cent from the 40,134 cases reported yesterday. 16.4 lakh tests were conducted in the past 24 hours.
This is the first time in the past seven days that daily new cases have dipped below the 40,000-mark. The national active caseload dropped to 4.05 lakh after 38,887 people recovered in 24 hours. Active cases constitute 1.28 per cent of total cases.
Daily and weekly positivity rates remain below the danger level of five per cent – 1.85 per cent and 2.39 per cent, respectively. What is worrying, though, is the ‘R’ factor, or rate of reproduction of the virus, which is still above the 1.0 mark amid warnings of a third wave.
AIIMS (Delhi) chief Dr Randeep Guleria told NDTV on Sunday the steady increase in the ‘R’ value is cause for concern; it has gone from 0.87 four weeks ago to 1.01 today. Dr Guleria called for aggressive containment in areas witnessing a surge in infections.
Kerala – which has taken over Maharashtra’s unwanted crown of ‘worst-affected state’ – reported 13,984 cases and 118 deaths in 24 hours. This is a significant drop from the more than 20,000 new cases reported in each of the past six days.