India has reported 53,256 new COVID-19 cases over the past day — the lowest daily count in 88 days, the Health Ministry said on Monday.
With the new figures, the nationwide tally of cases has reached nearly 30 million.
The death toll now stands at 388,135 with 1,422 more fatalities in the last 24 hours, which is the lowest in 65 days.
A total of 78,190 patients won the battle against the virus over the past day.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), nearly 400 million COVID-19 tests have been conducted so far.
Meanwhile, the government started a de-centralized policy for vaccination from Monday under which states will be given the doses free-of-cost. Earlier, the states had to pay the central government for the procurement.
Malaysia reported another 4,611 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the national total to 701,019, the health ministry said on Monday.
Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that another 69 more deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 4,477.
The official added that there is a disturbing rise in the number of sporadic cases and symptomless cases in the Klang Valley area, which encompasses the capital city of Kuala Lumpur and part of the adjacent Selangor state.
Sporadic cases refer to cases which are not traced to existing case clusters, he said, warning that those without symptoms are still infectious.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin announced earlier in the day the start of phase 3 of the country’s national COVID-19 immunization program covering people 18 years old and above, first to be implemented with Kuala Lumpur and Selangor state.
Khairy, who is also the coordinating minister for Malaysia’s national COVID-19 immunization program, said the program had been expedited as almost all senior citizens in the area had either received their first dose or had been given vaccination appointments.
Malaysia’s vaccination program to go through February 2022 will be conducted in three phases, with the first phase for frontline workers covering about half a million people, the second phase for high-risk groups and the third phase for adults aged 18 and above.
As of Sunday, some 4.2 million people or 12.9 percent of the total population have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines.
