COVID-19 second wave: India reports over 3.82 lakh cases, 3,780 deaths in 24 hours

India has reported more than 3.82 lakh new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. Over 3.38 lakh people recovered from the contagion in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of people discharged to more than 1.69 crore.

India's total active caseload currently stands at over 2.04 crore and the total number of fatalities reported is 2.26 lakh, according to the Health Ministry data. India reported the highest daily deaths at 3,780 on Wednesday. Over 16.04 crore people were inoculated against the novel coronavirus till May 4 (Tuesday). Out of these, over 13 crore people received the first dose, and over 3.04 lakh people got the second dose of the lifesaving jab.

The COVID-19 second wave has been more crippling compared to the first wave as it took only 15 days to add 5 million cases, i.e., from 15 million to 20 million. Previously, 5 million cases were added to India's COVID-19 graph in 121 days, according to the Health Ministry.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has revised the guidelines on coronavirus testing to relieve the burden on the shoulders of testing laboratories across India.

As per the latest ICMR guidelines, RT-PCR tests need not be conducted if an individual has tested positive once via a rapid antigen test (RAT). Mandatory RT-PCR tests for healthy people undertaking inter-state domestic travel can be avoided, the central body added.

Edited by Mehak Agarwal

Also read: 5 million COVID cases in just 15 days!

Also read: ICMR revises COVID-19 testing guidelines; no RT-PCR needed if you've tested positive via RAT