India logs 13 per cent fall in new COVID-19 cases in week; still highest globally: WHO
United Nations: India registered a 13 per cent decrease in new COVID-19 cases in the past week but the number of fresh infections was still the highest around the world, the WHO has said.
The number of new cases and deaths continued to decrease with just over 4.8 million new cases and just under 86,000 new deaths reported globally in the past week, a 12 per cent and 5 per cent decrease respectively compared to the previous week, according to the COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update Data received by the World Health Organization from national authorities as of May 16.
It said that the highest number of new cases were reported from India (2,387,663 new cases), a 13 per cent decrease over the previous week.
This was followed by Brazil (437,076 new cases; 3 per cent increase), the United States of America (235,638 new cases; 21 per cent decrease), Argentina (151,332 new cases; 8 per cent increase) and Colombia (115,834 new cases; 6 per cent increase).
The highest numbers of new deaths were reported from India (27,922 new deaths; 2.0 new deaths per 100 000; a 4 per cent increase), Nepal (1,224 new deaths; 4.2 new deaths per 100 000; a 266 per cent increase) and Indonesia (1,125 new deaths; 0.4 new deaths per 100,000; a 5 per cent decrease).
According to data received by the WHO from national authorities as of May 9, India had recorded the highest numbers of new cases at 2,738,957, a 5 per cent increase over the previous week.
As per the WHO estimates, cumulative cases in India currently stand at about 24.68 million and total deaths are at about 270,284.
The data added that the South-East Asia Region reported over 2.5 million new cases and over 30,000 new deaths, a 12 per cent decrease and a 7 per cent increase respectively compared to the previous week.
Case incidence decreased after nine consecutive weeks of increases, although the absolute number remains at its highest level since the beginning of the pandemic, it said, adding that death incidence continued to increase for a ninth consecutive week.
Globally, despite a declining trend over the past three weeks, the incidence of cases remains at some of the highest levels since the start of the pandemic.
All regions reported a decline in new cases this week apart from the Western Pacific Region, where the incidence of new cases was similar to the previous week.
The European Region reported the largest decline in new cases this week, followed by the Eastern Mediterranean.
These regions also reported the largest decline in new deaths over the past week. South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions reported a similar number of new deaths as the previous week, it added.
India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7th, 30 lakh on August 23rd, 40 lakh on September 5th and 50 lakh on September 16th.
It went past 60 lakh on September 28th, 70 lakh on October 11th, crossed 80 lakh on October 29th, 90 lakh on November 20th and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19th.
India crossed the grim milestone of 2 crore on May 4.
According to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday, India saw a record 4,529 fatalities due to coronavirus in a single day, pushing the COVID-19 death toll to 2,83,248, while 2,67,334 fresh infections were recorded, taking the total tally of cases to 2,54,96,330.
The active cases have further reduced to 32,26,719 comprising 12.66 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 86.23 per cent.
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FIR filed after e-commerce platform linked tech firm alleges SMS spoofing fraud
Bengaluru (PTI): An FIR has been registered against unknown people for allegedly sending fraudulent messages in the name of an e-commerce platform with promises of cash rewards, further disrupting its operations, police said on Wednesday.
The offence is said to have taken place between April 23 and April 27, they said.
A representative of city-based technology company Hiveloop Technology Pvt Ltd (HTPL), part of the Udaan group (eB2B platform), has lodged a complaint alleging a large-scale SMS spoofing fraud following which a detailed investigation has been initiated into the matter, a senior police officer said.
According to the FIR, HTPL is a registered entity on the TRAI-mandated DLT platform, which permits only pre-approved SMS templates and whitelisted URLs to be sent through authorised sender IDs.
The issue came to light on April 23, when HTPL received alerts from buyers about fraudulent SMS messages appearing to originate from the company's sender ID "UDAANN". The messages reportedly contained Bitly links and falsely claimed a credit of Rs 10,001, urging recipients to withdraw money, it said.
On April 27, at around 12:49 pm, the DLT platform blacklisted HTPL's SMS templates, citing their alleged use in sending fraudulent messages. Within minutes, the company's sender ID was also blacklisted. Airtel's DLT system subsequently confirmed the action and shared details of the fraudulent messages that were circulated in HTPL's name without its knowledge or consent, the FIR stated.
Following this, the company's messaging operations were affected, and even legitimate communications such as one-time passwords to buyers began failing. Later, the DLT operator suspended HTPL's entire account following complaints raised on TRAI's Chakshu platform, bringing all SMS services of the company to a halt, it further stated.
HTPL has stated that neither it nor its authorised vendors sent the fraudulent messages. The links embedded in the messages reportedly redirected users to an online betting website, the FIR stated.
The company has claimed that the incident has resulted in a complete breakdown of SMS-based services, including buyer authentication, order updates and promotional communication, leading to significant financial losses.
At least 13 victims have been identified so far, with the possibility of more affected users. Victims were allegedly directed to an online betting platform, raising concerns of potential financial fraud, the FIR added.
