A total of three thousand 428 new confirmed cases of Coronavirus infection were reported in Delhi during the last 24 hours taking the total number of cases to over three lakh 24 thousand.

The Delhi Government said that over 2,95,000 people affected with Coronavirus have been cured so far. In the last 24 hours, 3,197 people recovered and 22 deaths were reported in the National Capital taking the toll to 5946.

The Ministry of Health has said that India has scaled an unprecedented peak as active Covid-19 cases dropped below the 8 lakh mark for the first time in 1.5 months. In a tweet, the Ministry said that this significant achievement is the outcome of Centre-led targeted strategies leading to a high number of recoveries and steadily falling number of fatalities.

Meanwhile, Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Harsh Vardhan chaired a meeting on COVID Appropriate Behaviour with Heads and Directors of Autonomous Institutions of Department of Science and Technology and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research yesterday. Dr Vardhan applauded the great work carried out by all scientists, even beyond their mandates, and said that there are 9 vaccine candidates in the world which are in advanced stages. He said, in India, three vaccine candidates are developing well with one of them in the advanced Stage-3 Clinical trials and two others in stage--2 trials. He expressed the hope that India will soon have indigenous production of Corona vaccine. Pointing out that the fight against COVID is not over yet, Dr Vardhan cautioned people against complacence, carelessness and casual attitude towards combating COVID-19. He stated that the next two and half months are going to be very crucial for us in our fight against corona because of the winter season and the festival season. He said it becomes the responsibility of every citizen to not let our guard down and follow COVID appropriate behaviour to curb the spread of the infection.

Urging people across the country to follow the clarion call of the Prime Minister as part of the ‘Jan Andolan’ launched on the 8th of this month, the Union Minister appealed to the people to follow COVID appropriate behaviour.

On India’s fight against COVID-19, Dr Vardhan said, India is continuously recording new milestones in the treatment of Covid. He said, the recovery rate is the highest in the world and the fatality rate is among the lowest and the active cases are constantly declining. He said the government has successfully ramped up testing capacity to meet the requirements. He said, India also has now become self-reliant in terms of masks, PPE kits and ventilators.