-By ArdorComm News Network
February 17, 2022
India on Thursday recorded 30,757 new coronavirus cases, pushing the infection tally in the country to 4,27,54,315 since the pandemic broke out in January 2020. The number of new cases was 0.46% more than Wednesday’s count of 30,615 Covid-19 cases.
The toll rose to 5,10,413 as 541 people died due to the disease in the last 24 hours, government data showed. With this, active cases are now at 3,32,918, while the death toll has risen to 5,10,413. The daily positivity rate stood at 2.61%. As many as 4,19,10,984 people have recovered from the infection in the country.
With all indicators signalling a steady return to the situation that prevailed two months ago, the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday directed states to ease, or even do away with, the additional restrictive measures that had been imposed to deal with the third wave of the pandemic. In a letter to chief secretaries in states, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said it is important that movement of people and economic activities do not remain under the same level of restrictions now.
Several states have already begun the process of easing Covid restrictions: After a nearly two-year-long pause, Delhi University’s North Campus and student hubs surrounding it are back to pulsing with life as colleges begin to open for offline classes from Thursday. On Wednesday, the Haryana government lifted all Covid-related restrictions in the state, officials told PTI. In Uttarakhand, the state government lifted the night curfew after over one-and-a-half months and allowed various other economic activities to resume fully following a decline in daily Covid cases. Meanwhile, the Punjab government ordered all schools to reopen for students of pre-primary to class 12.
Source: PTI