Covid: India records 26,964 new cases in 24 hours, TN asks Centre to delay vaccine exports

India on Wednesday morning recorded 26,964 new coronavirus cases, taking the overall count of infections to 3,35,31,498 since the pandemic broke out in January last year. The new cases were 3.25% higher than Tuesday’s count of 26,115 infections.

The country’s Covid-19 toll rose to 4,45,768 after 383 people died in the last 24 hours. The number of active cases reduced to 3,01,989. As many as 3,27,83,741 patients have recovered from the infection in the country so far.

India has administered over 82 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses since the beginning of its inoculation drive in January. A total of 75,57,529 shots were administered in the country on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu government urged the Centre to defer resuming the exports of Covid-19 vaccines, PTI reported.

The Centre had on Monday announced that it will resume the exports, which were halted in view of the second wave of the pandemic in India, from October.

Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian, citing data, said that only one-third of eligible adults in India had got their first dose, The Hindu reported.

He added: “India is yet to plan vaccination of persons 12 to 18 years. At the national-level, 115 crore doses are required, and we need to expand vaccination for 12 to 18 years. In such a situation,…

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