For The First Time Since April 21, India's Daily Covid Cases Have Dropped Below 3 Lakh

Since April, India has seen an increase in coronavirus disease, setting new records for regular positive cases, but for the first time in weeks, the country has seen less than 3 lakh cases since April 21.

With 2.81 lakh new infections recorded in the last 24 hours, India's daily Covid cases have fallen below 3 lakh for the first time since April 21. The positivity rate stood at 17.88%. The number of deaths are still high as 4,106 patients had succumbed to the disease in the past 24 hours. The death toll crossed more than 2.7 lakhs.

The Health minister, Harsh Vardhan stated on Sunday that the states and the union territories will be receiving 51 Lakhs of vaccine doses in the upcoming three days. Although a vaccine shortage has slowed the world's largest immunisation campaign, which began in January. Bharat Biotech, whose Covaxin vaccine is one of three approved for emergency use, said on Sunday that it is successful against the Covid B.1.167 strain found in India as well as the B.1.1.7 virus found in the United Kingdom. On Sunday, the centre said that those who have already received slots on CoWin will not be inconvenienced, even though the prescribed difference between two doses of the Serum Institute of India's Covishield has been extended.

In the meantime, the anti-coronavirus drug 2-deoxy-D-glucose or 2-DG, created by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)which was approved earlier, will be launched today, May 17, with the Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh distributing 10,000 doses to hospitals in the national capital.

INMAS-DRDO scientists performed 2-DG laboratory experiments with the assistance of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad in April 2020, during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. They discovered that this molecule prevents viral growth and is selective against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Based on the findings, the DCGI approved a Phase-II clinical trial of 2-DG in Covid-19 patients in May 2020.

After India's healthcare system was overwhelmed by the second Covid wave, which resulted in a flood of distress messages, several countries have been sending medical supplies. The Health Ministry tweeted, about the Global assistance to improve India's actions against #COVID19 begins to be swiftly cleared and sent to states/UTs in a timely manner, (sic).

Over the weekend, curbs were extended in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh to prevent the spread of Covid. Though Delhi is seeing a recovery after registering over 25,000 daily cases earlier this month, Punjab says the number of cases is still rising. The national capital had extended till May 24.