India reports 3205 new Covid cases, 31 fatalities
New Delhi, May 4: India reported 3,205 new coronavirus infections in a day, pushing the number of active cases to 19,509 and the overall tally to 4,30,88,118, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated Wednesday.
The data released at 8 am also showed that 31 fatalities -- 29 of them from Kerala alone -- were reported in a 24-hour span, taking the cumulative death toll to 5,23,920.
The active cases constitute 0.05 per cent of the total infections, the health ministry said, adding the country's COVID-19 recovery rate is 98.74 per cent.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.98 per cent while the weekly figure was recorded at 0.76 per cent, the ministry said.
An increase of 372 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload which now stand at 19,509.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease rose to 4,25,44,689, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.22 per cent.
The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 189.48 crore.
India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19. It crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.
The 31 new fatalities include 29 from Kerala and one each from Maharashtra and Delhi, the data showed.
A total of 5,23,920 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,47,845 from Maharashtra, 69,112 from Kerala, 40,102 from Karnataka, 38,025 from Tamil Nadu, 26,176 from Delhi, 23,508 from Uttar Pradesh and 21,202 from West Bengal.
The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to co-morbidities.
"Our figures are being reconciled with (those of) the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
