Corona Updates You Must Track: With Nearly 61,000 Cases In 24 Hours, India Tally Climbs To 31.67 Lakh

India cases and toll: India’s COVID-19 tally rose to 31,67,323 on Tuesday morning with 60,975 new cases in the last 24 hours, a significant drop from the nearly 70,000 cases reported last Wednesday. Of the total caseload, 7,04,348 are active cases; there have also been 24,04,585 recoveries and 58,390 deaths, according to the data shared by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. In the last 24 hours, 848 people succumbed to the disease across the country. India conducted 9,25,383 tests for COVID-19 on Monday.

Don’t rush a vaccine, says US’ top health expert: The top infectious diseases expert in the US, Dr Anthony Fauci, said that rushing a vaccine for COVID-19 could prove detrimental to the development of other vaccines. “The one thing that you would not want to see with a vaccine is getting an EUA (emergency use authorization) before you have a signal of efficacy... One of the potential dangers if you prematurely let a vaccine out is that it would make it difficult, if not impossible, for the other vaccines to enroll people in their trial,” Fauci told Reuters.  

COVID-19 tracker for 25 August. Source: Twitter/@COVIDNewsByMIB

Global corona update: The global coronavirus count rose to 2,38,11,693 with 1,63,60,536 recoveries and 8,17,005 deaths, as per Worldometer. Of the 66,34,152 currently infected patients, 61,718 are in critical condition. The US is leading the global tally with 59,15,630 total cases of coronavirus and 1,81,114 deaths. It is followed by Brazil which has recorded 36,27,217 cases and 1,15,451 deaths.

Another Latin American country, Peru, is also witnessing a steady surge in new infections. Peru has reported 6,00,438 cases of coronavirus and 27,813 deaths so far. Amid strict lockdown measures, at least 13 people died at a nightclub in Lima, Peru’s capital, this weekend after police raided the premises over alleged violation of restrictions.   

A story of hope: When a 107-year-old woman, who had recently undergone a spine surgery, tested positive for COVID-19 in Maharashtra’s Jalna district, her family and doctors knew it would be a tough battle to win. However, last week, the centenarian was discharged from a COVID hospital in Jalna city.

Not just the woman, her 78-year-old daughter, 65-year-old son and two grandchildren, aged 27 and 17, who were also undergoing treatment for COVID-19, were discharged from the hospital. “We had lost all hope. We survived because of the dedication shown by the medical staff... it is nothing short of a miracle,” the centenarian woman’s son told PTI.