NEW DELHI, May 17 (NNN-PTI) – India’s federal health ministry, today reported 281,386 confirmed cases, during the past 24 hours, the first time since Apr 21, that new COVID-19 cases reported on daily basis have fallen below 300,000 mark.
Meanwhile, as many as 4,106 related deaths were reported from across the country today, raising the death toll in the country to 274,390.
The number of total confirmed COVID-19 cases now has risen to 24,965,463, the ministry said.
India has been fighting a deadly second wave of COVID-19, registering an average of over 300,000 daily new cases during the past few weeks.
The number of active cases in the country right now is 3,516,997, according to the information released by the ministry today.
Over 182 million (182,926,460) people have been vaccinated across the country, since the beginning of the vaccination drive on Jan 16 this year.
On May 1, the third phase of COVID-19 vaccinations was started, for people who are 18 years and above. However, the inoculation process has been hampered due to the severe shortage of vaccines. Reports pouring in from many states said, people are being turned away at vaccination centres because of the shortage of vaccines.
The shortage of essential medical supplies, including medical oxygen has also emerged as a key challenge for the government.
The federal government has ruled out imposing a complete countrywide lockdown. However, many states have imposed night curfews, weekend lockdowns and complete lockdowns, to break the spread of infection.
Meanwhile, the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown in the national capital has been extended by a week and will last until next Monday.– NNN-PTI
