Coronavirus cases in India top 2.26 million

NEW DELHI, India

India’s coronavirus tally rose to more than 2.26 million Tuesday with over 50,000 new cases in the last 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry.

Some 639,929 are active cases and more than 1.58 million people have recovered. The death toll has crossed the 45,000 mark to reach 45,257.

India still has the third-highest number of COVID-19 cases after the US and Brazil.

India reported the highest number of new cases globally in the first nine days of August with a cumulative count of 519,351 infections.

The country has conducted more than 24.58 million tests so far, according to data released Monday by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The Health Ministry said that the spread of the coronavirus remains concentrated in 10 states that contribute to more than 80% of new cases.

The ministry data shows that 35 districts have not reported any cases for 14-21 days and 11 have not reported any for 7-14 days. No cases were reported from in districts for 21-28 days and another seven districts have not reported any case for over 28 days until Sunday.

Meanwhile, an expert committee on vaccine administration will meet Wednesday to consider the logistics and ethical aspects of procurement and administration of COVID-19 vaccine, the Health Ministry said in a statement.

The committee will engage with all the stakeholders including state governments and vaccine manufacturers.