India’s death toll from the Covid-19 pandemic crossed 1.5 lakh at a time the country prepares to roll out an inoculation programme to stem the world’s second-worst outbreak.
Nearly 2.3 lakh people are currently infected with the virus strain in India, according to data released by the Union Health Ministry as of Jan. 6, 2021. That is significantly lower than the 10 lakh-odd active cases seen in mid-September.
The country added more than 18,000 fresh infections in the last 24 hours, while over 21,000 patients recovered during the same period.
Total confirmed cases in India topped 1.03 crore, with nearly a crore of them having recovered. The death toll from the deadly infection crossed 1.5 lakh.
The nation with 1.3 billion people is only behind the U.S. in the number of confirmed infections.
Key figures:
Total number of confirmed coronavirus cases: 1,03,74,932
Active cases: 2,27,546
Cured/discharged/migrated: 99,97,272
Deaths: 1,50,114
Number of fresh cases in last 24 hours: 18,088
One-day recoveries: 21,314
One-day deaths: 264
Global Virus Update
The World Health Organization’s director-general complained about China’s delay in granting visas to an incoming WHO team seeking to investigate Covid-19’s origins. Singapore began an additional seven day testing routine for newly arrived foreign workers.
In Europe, one out of 50 people has coronavirus in England now, the British government said. Germany extended its lockdown and tightened restrictions, while Italy strengthened some measures to counter the risk of a resurgence. Denmark raised its Covid-19 alert level to the maximum.
In the U.S., vaccinations are lagging in New York City, which has administered only about 119,000 doses out of the 480,550 delivered.
Globally, Covid-19 cases surpassed 86 million, with deaths exceeding 1.86 million.