With highest single-day surge of 32,695, cases near 1 million

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 16

Even as Covid cases today reached 9.68 lakh in the highest single-day surge of 32,695, active infections dropped to one third of the total burden in signs of improved recoveries.

Of 9,68,876 total cases, 34.18 per cent (3,31,146) are currently on disease management. The rest have been cured. The death toll reached 24,915, with 606 patients succumbing to the disease in the past 24 hours.

“Containment, tracking and treatment have contributed to a steady decline in the number of active cases. The actual caseload of Covid-19 has remained limited and manageable in the country due to proactive measures of containment, including house-to-house survey, perimeter control activities, timely contact tracing, surveillance of containment zones, aggressive testing, timely diagnosis, and effective clinical management of the moderate and severe cases,” the Health Ministry said.

After crossing the 50 per cent mark in the recovery rate in mid-June, India has made steady improvements to reach the cure rate of 63.25 per cent.

Simultaneously, there has been a steady dip in the active cases from around 45 per cent in mid-June to 34.18 per cent as of now.

‘Trials step towards self-reliant India’

The Department of Biotechnology said on Thursday that Zydus Cadila’s move to begin human trials of its indigenously developed Covid vaccine was a milestone for an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. “We hope that the vaccine will show positive outcome,” said a DBT official.