NEW DELHI, June 1: A consignment of three million doses of Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V landed at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad on Tuesday even as India reported 1,27,510 fresh Covid-19 cases, the lowest in 54 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.
The daily positivity rate has also dropped to 6.62 per cent. With the fresh cases, India’s tally of coronavirus cases rose to 2,81,75,044. The Covid-19 death toll climbed to 3,31,895 with 2,795 fresh fatalities, the lowest reported in 35 days, and the active cases were recorded below 20 lakh after 43 days, the data updated at 8 am showed.
Also, 19,25,374 tests were conducted on Monday taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of Covid-19 in the country to 34,67,92,257.
The active cases were recorded below 20 lakh after 43 days. They have reduced to 18,95,520 comprising 6.73 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate has improved to 92.09 per cent.
A net decline of 1,30,572 cases has been recorded in the Covid-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
Recoveries continue to outnumber daily new cases for 19 successive days. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 2,59,47,629, while the case fatality rate has increased to 1.18 per cent, the data stated.
The 2,795 new fatalities include 500 from Maharashtra, 478 from Tamil Nadu, 411 from Karnataka, 174 from Kerala, 151 from Uttar Pradesh, 131 from West Bengal, and 118 from Punjab.
A total of 3,31,895 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 95,344 from Maharashtra, 29,090 from Karnataka, 24,237 from Delhi, 24,232 from Tamil Nadu, 20,497 from Uttar Pradesh, 15,541 from West Bengal, 14,550 from Punjab and 13,048 from Chhattisgarh.
The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.
“Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.
Meanwhile, a GMR Hyderabad Air Cargo (GHAC) press release said the Sputnik V vaccine consignment arrived from Russia on a specially chartered freighter RU-9450 which touched down at Hyderabad Airport at 03.43 hours.
“While GHAC has already handled several import shipments of vaccine prior to this, today’s shipment of 56.6 tonnes of vaccines is the single largest import shipment of COVID-19 vaccines handled in India till date. This shipment completed all processes and was dispatched in less than 90 minutes,” it said.
The Sputnik V vaccine requires specialised handling and storage, required to be kept at a temperature of -20 C.
GHAC has been working closely with the experts from the customer’s supply chain team, officials from the customs department and other relevant stakeholders over an extended period to ensure that the necessary infrastructure and handling processes are fully in place at the Air Cargo Terminal for smooth handling of the vaccine shipments, it said.
Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s Laboratories is in a pact with the Russian Direct Investment Fund to sell the first 125 million people doses (250 million vials) of Sputnik V in India.
(Manas Dasgupta)
