As many as 43,733 people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative tally to 3,06,63,665.

The new recoveries outnumbered fresh infections for the 55th day straight as 47,240 more people were discharged between Tuesday and Wednesday. With this, the total number of discharges has reached 2,97,99,534 and the recovery rate has improved to 97.18%.

As a result, the total active cases in the country have come down to 4,59,920, dipping by 4,437 in the last 24 hours.

Even as health experts and an SBI report warn of the third wave of coronavirus infections hitting India in coming months, the daily caseload on Tuesday plunged to a four-month low.

Meanwhile, ICMR chief Balram Bhargava asserted that instead of highlighting the wave aspect, the focus should be on COVID appropriate behaviour/restrictions to contain the spread of the disease

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) DG Dr Balram Bhargava said, “The future challenge is not the 3rd wave, but how we act on it. Instead of highlighting the wave aspect, we should focus on COVID appropriate behaviour/restrictions to contain the spread.”

The report – COVID-19: The race to finishing line – prepared by SBI Research, claims that the covid third wave peak will arrive in the month of September 2021.

The health ministry says that 45 lakh people were vaccinated on July 6. This is much lower in comparison with the first week of the new programme that saw around 60 lakh Covid jabs each day.

So far, 36,13,23,548 people have been given the anti-Covid jabs. Among these, 36,05,998 doses were administered in the last 24 hours.

Eight states — Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra — have administered more than 50 lakh first doses of Covid-19 vaccine in the 18-44 years age group.