The active caseload is presently 2,73,889, which is the lowest in 197 days. Active cases presently constitute 0.81 per cent of the country’s total positive cases….reports Asian Lite News
International tourists may be able to travel to India by October 15 and an announcement is likely to be made by the Central government soon, Union Minister of State for Tourism Shripad Naik said on Saturday.
“As corona decreases, we will start national and international tourism. The announcement will be made soon and there is a possibility of it beginning after October 15,” Naik told reporters on the sidelines of a Gandhi Jayanti function here.
“International flights have started and we have requested for charter flights to resume by a particular date so that people can book trips to India and nowhere else,” he added.
International charter flights account for a bulk of the foreign tourist footfalls to Goa.
Earlier this month, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had forwarded a request made by travel and tourism industry stakeholders to the Union Home Affairs Ministry urging the latter to grant permissions to international charter flights at the earliest.
Recoveries outnumber new cases
The total number of recoveries from Covid on Saturday outnumbered the fresh cases in the last 24 hours. India reported a total of 24,354 fresh Covid cases, while recovery in the last 24 hours went up to 25,455 across the country. According to Union Health Ministry’s report on Saturday morning, as many as 234 Covid deaths were reported in the same time span, pushing the total death toll to 4,48,573 so far.
The recovery of 25,455 patients in the last 24 hours has increased the cumulative tally of recovered patients to 3,30,68,599. Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 97.86 per cent which is at its highest peak since March 2020.
The active caseload is presently 2,73,889, which is the lowest in 197 days. Active cases presently constitute 0.81 per cent of the country’s total positive cases.
With the administration of 69,33,838 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India’s Covid vaccination coverage exceeded 89.74 crore as per provisional report till 7 a,m. on Saturday.
Kerala to open theatres
The Kerala government on Saturday during a Covid analysis meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan decided to announce more relaxations including opening the cinema halls from October 25.
It was also decided during the meeting that from next Monday, all colleges will open for final year students while the regular classes for all students will start from October 18.
Those who will come to attended the classes should be vaccinated with both the doses.
Theatres will, however, be allowed to function with 50 per cent seating capacity and all employees, and those coming to watch the movies should be vaccinated with the two doses.
With regards to marriages, it has been decided to increase the number of guests from 20 to 50, and grama sabhas also can be convened, but will have to follow the Covid protocols.
On Saturday, 13,217 people tested Covid positive after 96,835 samples were tested in the past 24 hours and the test positivity rate was 13.64 per cent, said a statement.
The day saw 14,437 people turn negative, while there were 1,41,155 active cases with 11 per cent of the patients admitted in hospitals.
There were also 121 Covid deaths taking the total death tally to 25,303.
On the vaccination front, 92.6 per cent (2.47 crore) of the population above 18 years have received one dose, of which 41.5 per cent have got both the doses.