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The number of active cases of Covid-19 in India, which had swelled to over 37.2 lakh at the height of the second wave, has fallen below 10 lakh after 66 days. The count, a direct indicator of the extent of the spread of infections in the country, dropped below 10 lakh on Sunday, and had fallen further to nearly 9.2 lakh by Monday.

Due to the drop in testing over the weekend, the state and the city reported a significant dip in new cases. Maharashtra clocked 8,129, lowest in the 104 days since March 2 (7,863).Also, for the first time since the second wave began in February, the city registered its lowest daily tally (530). This is the lowest since 461 was recorded 118 days back on February 16.

On Monday, when the city recorded its second highest single-day turnout (93,997), BMC decided to increase the number of vaccine beneficiaries in each centre. On June 8, the highest-ever turnout of 96,860 was recorded.

Districts with mega cities are logging in the highest numbers of ‘old’ deaths: Pune, for instance, has added between 100 to 500 deaths on many days of this nearly month-long data update. In the last month, Pune district has added 2,586 ‘old’ deaths to the toll.Nashik, Nagpur and Thane are the other urban culprits with three-digit additions on most days. The additions in smaller districts such as Chandrapur, Latur, Sindhudurg and Wardha are in single digits on most days.

The uncertain path to authorisation in the US for Novavax despite passing the efficacy test with an impressive score of 90.4% might see India emerge as its major hub with the Serum Institute of India as manufacturing partner.The large Novavax trials conducted on 29,960 persons in the US and Mexico have delivered results that equal the Pfizer and Moderna jabs and do better than Johnson and Johnson, but regulatory clearance appears distant as an overflowing vault of vaccines has diminished the need for emergency use approvals. Under the US law, there is no need for additional EUAs once there are enough doses to cater to domestic needs.

Due to the drop in testing over the weekend, the state and the city reported a significant dip in new cases. Maharashtra clocked 8,129, lowest in the 104 days since March 2 (7,863). Also, for the first time since the second wave began in February, the city registered its lowest daily tally (530). This is the lowest since 461 was recorded 118 days back on February 16. Daily mortality figures also reported a dip, but the state added 1,392 from previous weeks to the total toll in an ongoing data reconciliation exercise. Since May 17, the state has added 19,116 unreported deaths in this manner.

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The number of active cases of Covid-19 in India, which had swelled to over 37.2 lakh at the height of the second wave, has fallen below 10 lakh after 66 days.

The uncertain path to authorisation in the US for Novavax despite passing the efficacy test with an impressive score of 90.4% might see India emerge as a major destination for the shots with the Serum Institute of India as manufacturing partner.