The Covid-19 tally in India on Friday inched closer towards the eight lakh mark after 26,507 fresh cases were reported within a span of 24 hours, taking the total to 7,93,802.
The number of fatalities stood at 21,604, according to data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Even as the number of daily Covid tests goes up from a few thousand in March to over 2 lakh in July, a glut of RT-PCR testing kits has both domestic manufacturers and multinational importers grumbling about government policies that one of them described as “baffling”.
While India has reached the 10-million-test landmark, domestic manufacturers supply only 25-30% of RT-PCR kits used.
Given that ICMR has validated over two dozen Indian manufacturers, that is a small improvement from the country’s 100% dependence on imported test kits in March.
Globally, over 12.2 million people have been infected with the novel coronavirus. The United States continued to be the worst affected followed by Brazil, India, Russia and Peru.
With as many as 2,30,599 COVID-19 cases, Maharashtra continues to remain the worst-affected state, followed by Tamil Nadu (1,26,581) and Delhi (1,07,051).
Meanwhile, 2,83,659 samples were tested for coronavirus on Thursday, taking the total number of samples tested up to July 9 to 1,10,24,491, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research.
India is projected to hit its peak of 6.45 lakh active cases on August 21, the latest mathematical modelling by the Times Fact-India Outbreak Report has indicated.
The above projection is based on the ‘most likely’ scenario; another model, known as the SEIR model, puts the peak at 6.98 lakh active cases on August 23.
Both projections are based on research and modelling by the Times Fact-India Outbreak Report, a coming together of data research firm Protiviti and Times Network.
What latest projections say
India is projected to hit its peak of 6,45,700 active cases according to the ‘most likely’ model on August 21, and 6,97,714 active cases as per the SEIR model on August 23.
Maharashtra, the worst-hit state, is projected to hit its peak of 1,43,181 active cases according to the ‘most likely’ model on August 1, and 1,31,832 active cases as per the SEIR model on July 29.
Tamil Nadu is projected to hit a peak of 53,117 active cases according to the ‘most likely’ model on July 20, and 68,379 active cases as per the SEIR model on August 1.
Delhi is projected to hit its peak of 30,851 active cases as per the SEIR model on August 4.
Gujarat is projected to hit its peak of 10,521 active cases according to the ‘most likely’ model on Jul 21, and 12,770 active cases as per the SEIR model on July 28.
West Bengal is projected to hit its peak of 19,777 active cases according to the ‘most likely’ model on August 20, and 19,250 active cases as per the SEIR model on August 28.
