India reported 73,272 coronavirus cases and 926 deaths in the last 24 hours ending 8 am on Saturday. With this, the total number of infections rose to 69,79,424 including 1,07,416 deaths, 8,83,185 active cases and 59,88,823 recoveries, according to the Union Health Ministry.
Kerala, the first state to get the novel coronavirus, took four-and-a-half months to record its first 10,000 infections. This Wednesday, it reported more than 10,000 infections in a single day. There was a time Kerala was feted globally for effectively containing the spread of the virus. Over the past few weeks, it has seen more cases every day than any other state barring Maharashtra and Karnataka.
On the vaccines front, a WHO-led initiative to make coronavirus vaccine accessible to all received a boost on Friday with China announcing its intention to join the initiative. The COVAX facility seeks to accelerate the development and production of coronavirus vaccines through pooling in resources from the member countries, and then ensure that it is equitably distributed amongst them.
Globally, more than 36.6 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 1,062,428 have died, according to a Reuters. The United States continues to remain the worst-affected followed by India and Brazil.
