The single-day surge in Covid-19 cases in India has been below 20,000 for the past 28 days. (Picture: Reuters)

Coronavirus Variants and Vaccinations, Coronavirus Active Cases in India Today’s News, November 5 Live Updates: The World Health Organization on Thursday said Europe is the epicenter of the pandemic despite vaccines. According to data, Europe has seen a more than 50% surge in coronavirus infections in the last month, making it the epicenter of the pandemic despite a huge supply of Covid-19 vaccines, which is a grave concern. Though there is plenty of Covid-19 vaccines available, uptake has not been equal. The US, UK, Russia, China, Singapore, Ukraine, and some in Eastern Europe have reported a resurgence of Coronavirus infections in the past few days. The UK has seen a spike of 14% in new Covid-19 cases, followed by Russia.

Meanwhile, the Covid-19 situation in India is under control. India added 12,729 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, taking its total tally of Covid-19 cases to 3,43,33,754, while the number of active cases increased marginally to 1,48,922, according to data from the Union Health Ministry data on Friday morning. The Covid-19 death toll climbed to 4,59,873 with 221 fresh fatalities, the Health Ministry said. The single-day rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for the past 28 days and less than 50,000 for 131 consecutive days now. The active cases now account for 0.43% of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate improves to 98.23%, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said. A rise of 343 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

Fresh infections, deaths, and the number of active cases are on a steady decline. Active cases also declined below 1.5 lakh. Kerala, which has been contributing the most (more than 60%) to India’s Covid tally, has started witnessing a sharp fall in fresh Coronavirus infections. According to data, breakthrough infections, or cases among those fully vaccinated, constituted a sizable chunk of the daily Covid count in Kerala over the past two weeks. However, only a tiny fraction of the cases required oxygen beds/ICU admission as vaccination reduced the severity of infections, officials said. However, any laxity in adhering to Covid-19 protocol may trigger a spike in new cases. The ongoing festival season and the coming winter season may further add to the challenges, making it difficult to contain the spread.

Here are the latest updates on Coronavirus from India and around the globe: