Coronavirus (Covid-19) India Live News Updates: At present, India has 7,15,812 active cases after a decrease of 24,278 in the last 24 hours. As many as 68,74,518 people have been recovered with 79,415 new discharges in the last hours.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday assured that the people of the state will be provided with free Covid-19 vaccine, once its developed. “Once the Covid vaccine is developed, it will be supplied free of cost for the people of Tamil Nadu,” he said. The state government’s decision came ahead of next year’s Assembly elections on 7 October.

Earlier today, the BJP promised of providing free Covid-19 vaccination for the people of Bihar in its election manifesto that was released by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Meanwhile, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi tested positive for Covid-19. Modi has been, over the past few days, campaigning for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections.

The country today reported 55,838 coronavirus cases and 702 deaths in the last 24 hours ending 8 am. With this, the total number of infections rose to 77,06,946 while the fatalities surged to 1,16,616. Active cases of COVID-19 in India have remained below 10 percent of the total caseload for the last three days suggesting that only 1 in 10 cases are active coronavirus patients, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday.

The daily positivity rate has also been maintained at less than 5 percent over the past three days. “There are 7,15,812 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 9.29 percent of the total caseload,” the data stated. As many as 68,74,518 people have been recovered with 79,415 new discharges in the last hours.

In other news, India has allowed all foreign nationals as well as all OCI and PIO cardholders to travel to India via air or sea. All such persons are now allowed to travel to India for any purpose, except tourism. The MHA stated that all existing visas, barring electronic visa, Tourist Visa, and Medical Visa, are being restored with an immediate effect.