Covid-19 fourth wave scare: India again reports more than 24,000 cases in past 24 hours

New Delhi: While there has been a slight decrease compared to yesterday, India once again reported more than 20,000 Covid cases. With 20,551 new coronavirus infections being written in a day, India's tally of Covid-19 cases rose to 4,41,07,588, while the active cases declined to 1,35,364, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday. The death toll climbed to 5,26,600 with 70 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated. The active cases comprise 0.31 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.50 per cent, the ministry said. A decrease of 1,114 cases has been recorded in the active Covid-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

India's Covid-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19. The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23 last year. It crossed the four-crore mark on January 25 this year.

Meanwhile, according to a large Dutch study published on Friday in The Lancet journal, one in eight adults who have infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus experience long-term symptoms due to Covid-19. The study provides one of the first comparisons of long-term symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection, called 'long Covid', with symptoms in an uninfected population, as well as those in individuals both pre- and post-Covid-19 infection.

The researchers found that several symptoms were new or more severe three to five months after having Covid-19, compared to symptoms before a diagnosis and to the control group, suggesting these symptoms can be viewed as the core symptoms of long Covid.

(With Agency inputs)