India reports over 3,000 COVID cases

India continued to report over 3,000 COVID cases for the second day in a row with 3,095 new infections in the last 24 hours, Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Friday. The country recorded the highest one-day fresh infections in the last nearly six months.

The country had reported 3,016 cases on Thursday with a case positivity rate of 2.73 percent which declined to 2.61 percent today. The weekly positivity rate jumped to 1.91 percent today from 1.71 percent yesterday.

According to the Ministry, the active caseload in the country increased from 13,509 yesterday to 15,208 today which is 0.03 of the total number of cases.

As many as 1,390 patients recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 4,41,69,711.

The recovery rate in the country currently is 98.78 percent.

The Ministry informed that 220.65 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive, of which 95.20 crore are second doses and 22.86 crores are precaution doses. 6,553 COVID vaccine doses have been administered in the last 24 hours, the Ministry said.

As far as the testing in the country is concerned amid the rising COVID cases, 1,18,694 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has issued revised guidelines for Covid-19 in the wake of the surge of cases in the past week across the country.

"Antibiotics should not be used unless there is clinical suspicion of bacterial infection. The possibility of coinfection of COVID-19 with other endemic infections must be considered. Systemic corticosteroids are not indicated in mild disease," revised guidelines said.

As per the revised Covid-19 guidelines, maintain "Physical distancing, indoor mask use, hand hygiene, Symptomatic management (hydration, antipyretics, antitussive) Monitor temperature and oxygen saturation (by applying a SpO probe to fingers) Stay in contact with the treating physician.

"Seek immediate medical attention if difficulty breathing, High-grade fever/ severe cough, particularly if lasting for more than 5 days. A low threshold is to be kept for those with any of the high-risk features," guidelines discussed and prepared in January said.

Additionally, in moderate or severe diseases at high risk of progression, the guidelines recommend, "Consider Remdesivir for up to 5 days (200 mg IV on day 1 followed by 100 mg IV OD for the next 4 days)".