Coronavirus India Live Updates: Maharashtra daily cases drop below 40,000 for 1st time since March 31

Beneficiaries of Covid-19 vaccine wait at the observation area after receiving their jabs at Tagore Hall in Ahmedabad. (Express photo by Nirmal Harindran)

Coronavirus India Live Updates: The World Health Organziation (WHO) said on Monday that the B.1.617 variant first identified in India last year was being classified as a variant of global concern. “We classify it as a variant of concern at a global level,” Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead told reporters.

Meanwhile, the number of daily coronavirus positive cases in Maharashtra dropped below the 40,000 mark to 37,236 on Monday for the first time since March 31.

Addressing the media at the end of the Congress Working Committee’s meeting, Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala and K C Venugopal briefed them about the party’s latest resolutions on the Covid-19 pandemic. Blaming the central government’s ” indifference, insensitivity, incompetence” for the aggressive second wave of the pandemic, the CWC raised several concerns about the Modi government’s strategy to combat the spread of the deadly infection.

India, in the last 24 hours, recorded 3,66,161 fresh Covid-19 cases and 3,754 related deaths. This is for the first time after four straight days that India’s Covid-19 count has risen by less than 4,00,000 fresh infections. The country’s daily death toll, too, was more than 4,000 in the last two days. However, only 14.74 lakh samples were tested on Sunday, compared to the usual 18-19 lakh samples a day.