Coronavirus India Latest Update Live: India reports 30,948 new Covid-19 cases, 403 deaths in last 24 hours

India has been reporting around 30,000 new Covid-19 cases for the past few weeks

Coronavirus Case and Fatality Rate in India, Coronavirus Third Wave Today August 22 Live Updates: The fear of a third wave of coronavirus is looming in the country, especially with states like Kerala reporting a high number of cases. However, in some places, like Delhi, the cases seem to be declining. This has led to some contrasts in the opening up of economic activities in different states. While Delhi has decided to allow markets to remain open after 8 pm starting Monday, Tamil Nadu has extended lockdown till September 6, although it has also allowed for some relaxation.

Meanwhile, the vaccination drive in the country is running at a robust pace, with more than 58 crore doses having been administered so far. This is only expected to improve over time, especially now that the sixth vaccine from Zydus Cadila has been approved. The company has said that it is hoping to begin the supply of its vaccine by September-end. Zydus Cadila also marks the first vaccine approved in India that can also be administered to children aged between 12 and 18 years, indicating that India could soon also include this age group into the vaccination drive. However, there has been no official information regarding this aspect.

Apart from this, states have also been preparing themselves for a possible third wave by arranging for sufficient oxygen, which was in critical shortage during the second wave. While Delhi is already working on getting oxygen plants set up, including the ones that the Centre has arranged for under the PM-CARES Fund, on Saturday, Madhya Pradesh also inaugurated 10 oxygen plants.

Stay tuned as Financial Express Online brings you the latest updates on coronavirus.