India records over 2.76 lakh new COVID-19 cases, 3,874 deaths in last 24 hours

India reported over 2,76,070 new COVID-19 cases and 3,69,077 discharges in the last 24 hours, while 3,874 persons succumbed to the disease, as per the health ministry’s data released on Thursday.

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New Delhi: India recorded over 2.76 lakh new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, which took its total caseload to 2.57 crore, as per the Union Health Ministry's data on Thursday (May 20, 2021).

There were 2,76,070 fresh infections, besides 3,874 coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours. The country currently has 31,29,878 active cases. 

India is currently going through the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and has lost a total of 2,66,207 lives to the coronavirus infection so far.

The county also recorded the highest single-day tests so far with over 20.55 lakh samples being tested in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the Central government on Wednesday (May 19, 2021) accepted the new recommendations by the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC) to defer the coronavirus vaccination by three months after clinical recovery from the illness.

“Persons with any other serious illness requiring hospitalization or ICU care to also wait for 4-8 weeks before getting the vaccine,” the Union Health Ministry said.

The expert panel recommended inoculation of all lactating women, but the government said that the matter is under discussion and will be further deliberated by the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation.

Additionally, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has approved a home-based rapid antigen testing (RAT) kit for COVID-19 here on Wednesday, advising that the kit should be used only on symptomatic individuals.