NEW DELHI: India reported another 86,052 coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, a declining trend with recoveries exceeding new cases this week.
The latest update from the Health Ministry on Friday raised the nation’s total to more than 5.8 million. The ministry said 1,141 more people died in the past 24 hours taking the total number of people who have died from the virus to 92,290.
India is expected to become the pandemic’s worst-hit country within weeks, surpassing the United States, where more than 6.9 million people have been infected.
The ministry said India’s recovery rate has crossed 81.55%. On Thursday, the number of people newly recovered, 87,374, exceeded the number newly infected. And the more than 562,000 new recoveries confirmed between Sept. 18 and Wednesday exceeded the 517,800 new cases over that time.
Less than 1 million people still have active infections while the number of people discharged from hospitals and quarantines exceeds 4.7 million, the ministry said.
India’s newly reported infections have remained below 90,000 for five straight days after hitting a record 97,894 on Sept. 16.
Though there was a 12% dip in testing for five days, it picked up again to 1.1 million on Thursday, the ministry said.
The total number of tests have crossed 67 million so far in the country with nearly 1.4 billion people. But a large number of them are antigen tests which are faster but less accurate compared to RT-PCR, the gold standard for the coronavirus. Antigen tests look for virus proteins while RT-PCR tests look for genetic material from the virus.
India’s daily new virus cases on declining trend
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India’s daily new virus cases on declining trend
- India is expected to become the pandemic’s worst-hit country within weeks
- The country's newly reported infections have remained below 90,000 for five straight days after hitting a record 97,894 on Sept. 16
Venezuela advances amnesty bill that could lead to mass release of political prisoners
- Such an amnesty is a central demand of the country’s opposition and human rights organizations with backing from the United States
CARACAS: Venezuela’s legislature on Thursday advanced an amnesty bill proposed by acting President Delcy Rodríguez that could lead to the release of hundreds of opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists detained for political reasons.
Such an amnesty is a central demand of the country’s opposition and human rights organizations with backing from the United States. But the contents of the bill have not been released publicly, and rights groups have so far reacted with cautious optimism — and with demands for more information.
The bill, introduced just weeks after the US military captured then-President Nicolás Maduro, still requires a second debate that has yet to be scheduled. Once approved, it must be signed by Rodríguez before it can go into effect.
In announcing the bill late last month, Rodríguez told a gathering of justices, magistrates, ministers, military brass and other government leaders that the ruling party-controlled National Assembly would take up the legislation with urgency.
“May this law serve to heal the wounds left by the political confrontation fueled by violence and extremism,” she said in a pre-taped televised event. “May it serve to redirect justice in our country, and may it serve to redirect coexistence among Venezuelans.”
Rights groups, fearing some political detainees will be excluded, want more details about the requirements for amnesty before any final vote.
The Venezuelan Program for Education-Action in Human Rights, or PROVEA, issued a statement emphasizing that the bill must be made public urgently due to its potential impact on victims’ rights and broader Venezuelan society.
Based on what is known so far about the legislation, the amnesty would cover a broad timeline, spanning the administration of the late Hugo Chávez from 1999 to 2013 and that of his political heir, Maduro, until this year. It would exclude people convicted of murder, drug trafficking, and serious human rights violations, reports indicate.
