New Delhi (TIP): India on Thursday, July 21, recorded 41,383 new cases and 507 more deaths due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), taking the caseload and death toll to 31,257,720 and 418,987 respectively, according to the Union health ministry’s update at 8am. As many as 38,652 people recovered in the 24-hour time span, taking the cumulative count of recoveries to 30,429,339, the data showed. The active cases stand at 409,394, an increase from 407,170 cases on Wednesday.
Thursday’s case count is 632 less than that of Wednesday’s when 42,015 people were detected Covid-19 positive. Meanwhile, the toll on Thursday is 3,491 less than that of Wednesday’s when 3,998 deaths were recorded as Maharashtra reconciled its death count with 3,509 previously unreported fatalities.
A total of 450,911,712 samples have been tested for the Covid-19 disease till now, of which 1718,439 were tested in the last 24 hours, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Thursday.
More than 415 million vaccine doses have been administered across the country of which 328,716,212 have received the first dose and the remaining 86,756,243 have received both doses.
The Centre and opposition leaders have engaged in a squabble after the former claimed that no deaths due to lack of oxygen were reported by states and Union Territories during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Leaders of opposition parties such as the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) former ally Shiv Sena have strongly criticised the above statement of a Union minister in the Rajya Sabha.
However, several states including Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have claimed that no Covid-19 deaths were reported due to the shortage of the life saving gas.
Countering the allegations made by opposition parties, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said on?Wednesday that health is a state subject, adding no state or UT sent any data regarding deaths specifically due to a shortage of oxygen. “None of them said that a death occurred in their state and Union territory due to shortage of oxygen, there is no data for that. Did the Centre generate this data? No,” Patra added. Source: HT