India's daily Covid cases dip for 46th day, 165,553 new infections recorded

Continuing on a downward curve for 46th day in a row, India on Sunday recorded 165,553 fresh cases of coronavirus disease, taking the country's cumulative tally past 27.8 million, according to the Union health ministry. The country also saw 3,460 deaths in the last 24 hours. A total of 325,972 people have died due to the coronavirus disease, data updated at 8am showed. The country's death toll has been below 4,000 for the fourth straight day.

Moving swiftly to contain the spread further, the government on Saturday reconstituted the empowered groups set up to monitor and coordinate activities and response to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the country by including exclusive groups on oxygen availability, testing, vaccination and emergency response capabilities.

Despite some evident signs of the wave waning, 80% of the country remains under lockdown and lockdown-like measures which kicked in last month to combat the raging infections.

States like Kerala, Delhi, Puducherry, Meghalaya and Mizoram on Saturday decided to extend Covid-induced lockdown to blunt its fierce infection surge, while a clutch of other states like Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka eased restrictions.