COVID pandemic: India reports 1,549 new cases with 31 fatalities in single day

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COVID-19 India News Updates: India recorded 1,549 new cases of the novel coronavirus, along with 31 deaths due to the infection in the past 24 hours. According to the data shared by the Union Health Ministry on Monday (March 21), the country saw a total of 2,652 discharges in the last 24 hours, taking the total recovery rate at around 98.74 per cent and total recoveries data reached to 4,24,67,774.

The total active cases of COVID-19 in India have declined to 25,106 the ministry data showed today.

The total death toll in the country is now at 5,16,510. In India, the first death due to the COVID pandemic was reported in March 2020.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 78,30,45,157 samples have been tested up to March 19 for COVID-19. Of these 3,84,499 samples were tested on Sunday.

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Meanwhile, India's apex body on immunisation NTAGI has recommended administering the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine Covishield between eight and 16 weeks after the first dose, official sources said on Sunday. Presently, the second dose of Covishield is given between 12-16 weeks after the first dose under the National COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy.

The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) has not yet suggested any change in the schedule of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, whose second dose is administered 28 days after the first dose.   The recommendation for Covishield is yet to be implemented in the national COVID-19 vaccination programme.

"The latest recommendation of NTAGI is based on recent global scientific evidence derived from programmatic data," said an official source.

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