India adds 39,070 new COVID-19 cases and 491 deaths in last 24 hours

India's coronavirus active count now stands at 4,06,822 and constitutes 1.27% of the country's total confirmed cases.

File Photo (PTI)

New Delhi: India recorded 39,070 new COVID-19 cases and 491 related deaths in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed on Sunday (August 8, 2021). The country now has registered a total of 3.19 crore coronavirus infections and has witnessed 4,27,862 fatalities.

India's active count now stands at 4,06,822 and constitutes 1.27% of the country's total confirmed cases. The Health Ministry informed that a total of 17,22,221 COVID-19 tests were conducted between Saturday and Sunday morning and India has so far done over 48 crore tests. The national weekly positivity rate currently stands at 2.38%, whereas, the daily positivity rate is at 2.27%.

On the other hand, 43,910 patients recovered from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours and took the total tally to 3.10 crore. The national recovery rate has now increased to 97.39%.

India moves to UK's 'amber' list

The United Kingdom government has now moved India from the 'red' to the 'amber' list because of the low number of COVID-19 cases in the country. India which recorded over four lakh coronavirus cases during the second wave in April and May has been seeing less than 50,000 daily new infections for more than a month now. The Boris Johnson-led government's step has come as a relief for the Indian diaspora who had been demanding the easing of travel norms between India and Britain. 

Johnson & Johnson's single-dose COVID-19 vaccine gets emergency use nod

To strengthen the fight against COVID-19, India on Saturday has approved Johnson & Johnson's single-dose vaccine for the Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA). The pharma company's statement said that the EUA submission is based on topline efficacy and safety data from the Phase 3 clinical trial ENSEMBLE, which demonstrated their single-shot vaccine was 85 per cent effective in preventing severe disease across all regions studied.  The Phase 3 clinical trial of the J&J single-dose vaccine also showed protection against COVID-19 related hospitalization and death, beginning 28 days after vaccination.

Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has now crossed 50.68 crores after nearly 56 lakh vaccine doses were administered on Saturday.

(With agency inputs)