India, meanwhile, recorded 1,27,510 new Covid-19 cases and 2,795 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to data from the Union Health Ministry. 

The ministry said cases have been declining for the past few days, with daily new cases being the lowest in 54 days. The total number of coronavirus cases now stand at 2,81,75,044 while the death toll has reached 3,31,895. 

There are 18,95,520 active cases at present while as many as 2,59,47,629 people have recovered from the disease. The recovery rate continues to increase and stands at 92.09 per cent on Tuesday. 

The weekly positivity rate currently has been pegged at 8.64 per cent while the daily positivity rate has dropped to 6.62 per cent. A total of 21,60,46,638 vaccine doses have been administered so far, the ministry said.

A consignment, comprising as many as three million doses of Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V, the biggest tranche so far, landed at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories is in a pact with Russian Direct Investment Fund to sell the first 125 million people doses (250 million vials) of Sputnik V in India. It has received approval from the Indian drug regulator for restricted emergency use of Sputnik V.

Earlier on Tuesday, Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank was admitted to AIIMS, most likely for post-COVID complications. He had tested positive for Covid a month ago.

In other news, the COVID-19 variant first found in India will henceforth be referred to as the “Delta variant”, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Monday. It also said that it will be using greek alphabets as labels for the categories of mutations.

Source: The Indian Express 

BDST: 1620 HRS, BDST: JUNE 01, 2021
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