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The number of new coronavirus infections in India has jumped 18% recorded with 45,576 recorded in the past 24 hours, according to government data. That takes the overall figure to 89,58,483 since the outbreak in January. Up to 585 people died of the disease since yesterday, the overall number till now being 1,31,578. Up to 4.43 lakh active cases remain in the country.

Here are the top-10 developments on this front from the past 24 hours:

1. Delhi recorded 7,486 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, with 131 deaths – the highest fatalities for a 24-hour duration till now in the city. The total number of cases in Delhi now stands at 5,03,084, with 42,458 active ones. Up to 7,943 people have died of the disease till now, putting the death rate at 1.58%, while the recovery rate is at 89.9%.
2. The Delhi government has permitted the chiefs of all its COVID-19 hospitals to get tests conducted at DGHS rates at DGHS-listed laboratories if the testing facilities are not available in the government hospitals.
3. The Delhi government has allowed COVID-19 designated hospitals to engage fourth and fifth-year MBBS students, interns, and BDS doctors to assist duty doctors in controlling the pandemic. They will be paid an honorarium of ₹ 1,000 for an 8-hour shift and ₹ 2,000 for a 12-hour shift per day.
4. The total recoveries for India stood at 83,83,602 as of Thursday morning, putting the country’s overall recovery rate at 93.5%.
5. The total number of tests conducted in the past 24 hours was 10,28,203, with a test positivity rate of 4.4%.
6. The Telangana government has drastically reduced RT PCR testing rates for private laboratories from ₹ 2,200 to ₹ 850. People are advised to avail government testing facilities for COVID-19 testing, free of cost.
7. The Odisha government has designated a special hospital for COVID-19 warriors. The state Health and Family Welfare Department has named Aditya Ashwini COVID-19 Hospital in Bhubaneswar specially for the treatment of doctors and frontline warriors battling the virus.
8. Pfizer and BioNTech could secure emergency US and European authorisation for their COVID-19 vaccine next month after final trial results showed it had a 95% success rate and no serious side effects. The vaccine’s efficacy was found to be consistent across different ages and ethnicities – a promising sign given the disease has disproportionately hurt the elderly and certain groups including Black people.
9. The World Health Organization’s emergencies director has warned that vaccines would not arrive in time to defeat the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The WHO’s Michael Ryan said vaccines should not be seen as a “unicorn” magic solution, and countries battling a resurgence of the virus would once again have to “climb this mountain” without vaccines.
10. US coronavirus deaths passed a quarter of a million people Wednesday as New York announced it would close schools to battle a rise in infections and protests in Europe against restrictions turned violent. America has now registered 250,029 fatalities, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University, by far the highest national death number.