IN NUMBERS: Nearly 14,000 fresh cases reported
India reported 13,993 fresh coronavirus infections on Saturday, taking the cumulative caseload to 1,09,77,387, according to a report in the Scroll. The country saw 101 deaths due to the pandemic, taking the death toll to 1,56,212, according to central health ministry data. The total recoveries have surged to 1,06,78,048 while the active caseload is at 1,43,127. As many as 1,07,15,204 healthcare and frontline workers have been inoculated since the nationwide inoculation programme kicked off on January 16.
OPINION: Govt cherry-picking Covid vaccination figures
The central government is cherry-picking figures related to the Covid-19 vaccination programme, an opinion piece in ThePrint said citing its editor-in-chief Shekhar Gupta. Only 0.63 per cent of Indians have been inoculated so far, compared to 80 per cent of Israelis, 27 per cent of Britons and 17 per cent of Americans. On a per million people basis, India's rate is 6,300 vaccinations compared to 8,00,000 vaccinations per million in Israel, 170,000 in the US, 260,000 in the UK and 540,000 in the UAE. However, the Indian government is focused on how fast certain milestones have been crossed in a given period of time, the article said.