Coronavirus: India now has 6,00,032 cases — roughly 50,000 cases behind Russia.

New Delhi:

India has crossed the 6-lakh mark in coronavirus cases, with the addition of a chunk of new patients from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Delhi. The total is now 6,00,032 — roughly 50,000 cases behind Russia, which is the third worst sufferer from coronavirus. Russia is preceded by Brazil, which has more than 14 lakh cases and the US, which has over 26 lakh cases.

This morning, India’s figure stood at 5,66,840, with the addition of a whopping 18,522 new cases. By the evening, Maharashtra added 5,537 cases to the tally, Tamil Nadu 3,882 and Delhi 2,442.

Around 90 per cent of total infections in India are from ten states — Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Karnataka.

Delhi, though, has lately registered a slowdown. Earlier today, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said Delhi has managed to slow down the spread of coronavirus, citing that the total — 87,000-plus — falls short of the 1 lakh figure that the experts were expecting in June.  Of the predicted 60,000 active cases by the end of June, Delhi has only around 26,000, he said.

The spike comes amid a gradual relaxation of the restrictions imposed since March. On Monday, the government had announced “Unlock 2”, where the containment zones will remain under lockdown.

Schools and colleges, however are yet to open and metro services and international flights have not resumed. Large gatherings — social, political or religious — are still banned.

COVAXIN — the first indigenous vaccine for coronavirus — has received the Drug Controller General of India’s approval for human clinical trials, which will begin this month.

An inactivated vaccine created from a strain of the infectious SARS-CoV-2 virus, it has been developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech.

At a meetnig yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided that doctors, nurses and frontline workers against coronavirus as well as the vulnerable sections of the population will get first access once a vaccine becomes available.