Guwahati, July 17 (TIWN) The flood situation in Assam continued to remain grim on Friday, as five more deaths were reported, taking the death toll due to the monsoon deluge to 76, while around 36 lakh people in 28 of the state's 33 districts have been affected.

The  Government has said that the total number of people who have recovered from coronavirus infection has crossed the five lakh mark. A total of five lakh 15 thousand 386 people affected with coronavirus have recovered in the country so far. In the past 24 hours, 19 thousand 873 people have recovered from Covid-19 and with this the recovery rate reached 62.78 per cent.       

In terms of recovery rate, the top five States and Union Territories are Ladakh, Chhattisgarh, Uttrakhand, Delhi and Rajasthan wherein the recovery rate is above 76 per cent. In terms of number of people who have recovered from coronavirus, Maharashtra stands at top position followed by Delhi and Tamil Nadu. There are 19 States and Union Territories with recovery rate  above the national average.     

The Health and Family Welfare Ministry said, a total of 27 thousand 114 new cases of Covid-19 have been reported in the country within 24 hours taking the total number of cases to eight lakh 20 thousand 916. This is the highest number of fresh cases recorded in India since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic in the country. Presently, the total number of active corona cases in the country is two lakh 83 thousand 407. In a single day, 519 deaths have been reported taking the nationwide toll to 22 thousand 123.

The case fatality rate  in the country is now  2.69 per cent.  Indian Council of Medical Research, ICMR said that a total of two lakh 82 thousand 511 samples have been tested for corona virus by various laboratories in the country in the last 24 hours. So far, one crore 13 lakh seven thousand two tests have been conducted.  The Drug Controller General of India, DCGI has approved Itolizumab for restricted emergency use on COVID-19 patients with moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Drug Controller General of India has approved Itolizumab injection for the treatment of 'cytokine' release syndrome in moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome in patients due to COVID-19. The drug was approved after satisfactory result from clinical trials. Itolizumab injection is already an approved drug of Biocon Limited used for the treatment of patients with active moderate to severe psoriasis.