India’s active case count drops to 13,000; South Africa gets 5th wave warning – Top Covid Updates

Covid-19 April 2 Latest News: India is inching closer to a mask-free society. After a two-year-long rule, authorities are saying that face masks are advisable but not ‘must’. Delhi and Maharashtra have announced that people won’t be fined for not wearing face masks in public. While the current trend of daily Covid-19 cases may encourage the officials for easing the corona curbs, the World Health Organization maintains that caution is must even in regions that are seeing fewer cases than others. So, what’s latest update on the coronavirus pandemic? FE Online brings you the top developments that you should know:

India reported 1,260 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, the daily health bulletin said.

The number of active cases fell to 13,000 level. The official records show that India has 13,445 active Covid-19 cases at present.

The only worrying aspect of today’s update is the minor spike in the Covid fatalities. The ministry’s bulletins says that 83 people died due to coronavirus-related complications in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech has announced that it will ‘slow down’ the production of its coronavirus vaccine Covaxin. The company says that it has completed the mandatory requirements in terms of vaccine supplies to all agencies. It also adds that it sees lesser demand of the coronavirus vaccine in near future.

Talking about regional updates, Andaman and Nicobar Islands have turned Covid-free. The local health officials say that the union territory has reported zero active cases, which makes it a Covid-free region.

Over to some international Covid updates. South African government has decided to relax some Covid curbs despite the health warning of fifth coronavirus wave by the experts. South Africa has also recorded over 1,00,000 coronavirus deaths, its National Institute for Communicable Diseases says. In yet another study on the need of booster shots to fight the Omicron variant of novel coronavirus, Pune’s National Institute of Virology says that the level of antibodies decreases within six months of administering the vaccine. Hence, there is need of an additional dose of vaccine to neutralise the possibility of Omicron infection.