The Election Commission of India has banned all victory processions on the day of counting of votes (May 2) polled -- or even after -- to the five states in the past few weeks after amid COVID-19 surge.
Coming amid a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the poll panel had laid down protocol for the contesting parties and leaders to follow to minimise the spread of infections. The rules were mostly observed only breach by most political outfits and their contestants, with huge rallies and marches giving social distancing a toss.
Meanwhile, with 3,23,144 people testing positive for coronavirus infection in a day, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases has climbed to 1,76,36,307, while the national recovery rate has further dropped to 82.54 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.
The death count increased to 1,97,894 with 2,771 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.
There has been a slight dip in the daily cases as compared to the number of new infections reported in the past few days.
The active cases have increased to 28,82,204 comprising 16.34 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further dropped to 82.54 per cent.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,45,56,209 while the case fatality rate has further dropped to 1.12 per cent, the data stated.
