India on Friday registered yet another record increase in coronavirus infections as 1,31,968 new cases were reported in 24 hours. The country’s overall count rose to 1,30,60,542. India’s toll rose to 1,67,642 as 780 deaths were registered in the last day. The number of active cases stood at 9,79,608, while the number of recoveries reached 1,19,13,292. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the shortage of coronavirus vaccines was a serious matter and not an “utsav” or festival, as he criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for a four-day vaccination festival from April 11 to 14 to inoculate the maximum number of people. Amid the surge in Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra, migrant workers, fearing another lockdown, have begun returning to their hometowns. Migrants in Delhi are also planning to leave for their native places. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences will perform only urgent surgeries from Saturday, in order to free up resources to deal with the rise in coronavirus cases. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan again claimed that there was no shortage of vaccines in the country. He dismissed shortage concerns raised by several states as “fear mongering” and said that more than 4.3 crore shots were in stock. As many as 180 people have died in India till March 29, after being vaccinated against coronavirus, according to data from the official body tracking adverse events following immunisation. The World Health Organization has rejected Serum Institute of India’s proposal to extend the shelf life of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from six to nine months, PTI reported, citing unidentified officials. WHO warned that coronavirus cases in the United Kingdom could rise again despite the ongoing vaccination programme, The Guardian reported. “The population groups that are really driving transmission are still in the majority sense the ones that have not yet been vaccinated as a whole,” Senior Emergency Officer Catherine Smallwood said. “Transmission can still happen in the UK without any washing up on the shores of the European outbreak.”New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, temporarily suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, Reuters reported. Several countries have expressed concern about the safety of the vaccine due to its possible link to blood clots. Globally, the coronavirus has infected more than 13.37 crore people and killed 29,00,922, according to the Johns Hopkins University. More than 7.60 crore people have recovered from the infection. India on Friday registered yet another record increase in coronavirus infections as 1,31,968 new cases were reported in 24 hours. The country’s overall count rose to 1,30,60,542. India’s toll rose to 1,67,642 as 780 deaths were registered in the last day. The number of active cases stood at 9,79,608, while the number of recoveries reached 1,19,13,292. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the shortage of coronavirus vaccines was a serious matter and not an “utsav” or festival, as he criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for a four-day vaccination festival from April 11 to 14 to inoculate the maximum number of people. Amid the surge in Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra, migrant workers, fearing another lockdown, have begun returning to their hometowns. Migrants in Delhi are also planning to leave for their native places. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences will perform only urgent surgeries from Saturday, in order to free up resources to deal with the rise in coronavirus cases. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan again claimed that there was no shortage of vaccines in the country. He dismissed shortage concerns raised by several states as “fear mongering” and said that more than 4.3 crore shots were in stock. As many as 180 people have died in India till March 29, after being vaccinated against coronavirus, according to data from the official body tracking adverse events following immunisation. The World Health Organization has rejected Serum Institute of India’s proposal to extend the shelf life of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from six to nine months, PTI reported, citing unidentified officials. WHO warned that coronavirus cases in the United Kingdom could rise again despite the ongoing vaccination programme, The Guardian reported. “The population groups that are really driving transmission are still in the majority sense the ones that have not yet been vaccinated as a whole,” Senior Emergency Officer Catherine Smallwood said. “Transmission can still happen in the UK without any washing up on the shores of the European outbreak.”New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, temporarily suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, Reuters reported. Several countries have expressed concern about the safety of the vaccine due to its possible link to blood clots. Globally, the coronavirus has infected more than 13.37 crore people and killed 29,00,922, according to the Johns Hopkins University. More than 7.60 crore people have recovered from the infection.