31,521 New Covid Cases In India, 97.67 Lakh Total Cases; 1,41,772 Deaths

India reported a daily jump of 31,521 coronavirus infections in 24 hours, taking its tally to 97.67-lakh mark, the Health Ministry data this morning showed.The number of cases in the country now stand at 97,67,371. In the 24-hour period, India, which is the second worst-hit country, reported 412 deaths linked to the virus, taking the total number of fatalities to 1,41,772. The fatality rate stands at 1.45 per cent.

1. The active caseload remained below 4 lakh for the fourth consecutive day. There are 3,72,293 active coronavirus infections in the country which comprise 3.81 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.
2. Maharashtra (4,981), Karnataka (1,279), Kerala (4,875), West Bengal (2,956) and Delhi (2,463) continued to log the highest daily cases.
3. “An average of more than 10 lakh tests conducted daily has ensured that the cumulative positivity rate is sustained at low levels and is presently following a downward trajectory,” the Health ministry said on Wednesday.
4. The testing capacity of the country has grown to 15 lakh tests per day, according to  the the government. Uttar Pradesh has the highest cumulative testing with more than 2 crore tests. Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh are among the states with highest cumulative testing with more than 1 crore tests, it said.
5. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday said that the national capital is “emerging victorious” in the battle against the coronavirus. In a series of tweets, he also said that for the first time in Delhi, “more than 2,500 ICU beds” are vacant for COVID-19 patients. On Wednesday, the national capital recorded 50 virus-related deaths, the lowest since November 1.
6. Issues in the lungs and kidneys are the most common Covid-related complications, a large study, now published, of COVID-19 patients in the United States confirms. As per the study, the absolute risk of someone with Covid having serious conditions was 27.6 per cent for pneumonia, 22.6 per cent for respiratory failure, 11.8 per cent for kidney failure and 10.4 per cent for sepsis or systemic inflammation.
7. Coronavirus cases in India have been declining consistently since the mid-September surge. The active cases have gone down from 10 lakh on September 18 to 9 lakh on October 8, 8 lakh on October 16, 7 lakh on October 22, 6 lakh on October 29, 5 lakh on November 10 and 4 lakh on December 6.
8. India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23 and 40 lakh on September 5. It went past 50 lakh on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, and 90 lakh on November 20.
9. India is having one of the largest universal immunization programmes for COVID-19. Three vaccines candidates from Oxford, Pfizer and Bharat Biotech under active consideration for emergency use in India. On Wednesday, the Drugs Controller General of India granted conditional permission for phases 1 and 2 human clinical trial of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd.
10. However, lack of cold chain may prove to be one of the biggest challenges for India in COVID-19 vaccine distribution, a foreign brokerage has said. The cold chain market with 37 million tonne capacity is very fragmented in India, and the country does not have a single cold chain operator with a capacity of over 5,000 tonne, analysts at Bofa Securities said.