E-Paper
261,500 fresh infections take India's tally to over 14.78 million; 1,501 new deaths recorded in 24 hours
Several cities, as well as rural areas, have been brought under strict lockdown-like measures. Weekend curfews have been imposed in several urban areas as the nation registered more than 190,000 Covid-19 cases on an average this week.
India registered its highest-ever single-day spike with 261,500 fresh cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and recorded 1501 fatalities, taking the tally to 14,788,109 and the death toll to 177,150, according to the Union ministry of health and family welfare on Sunday. The number of active cases in the country stands at 1801316, the health ministry’s dashboard at 9am showed.
According to the health ministry, 12,809,643 people have recovered from the disease after 138,423 Covid-19 patients were cured in the last 24 hours. India has vaccinated more than 110 million people so far.
Several cities, as well as rural areas, have been brought under strict lockdown-like measures. Most of the northern, central and western Indian cities, including Capital Delhi and financial hub Mumbai, will remain under strict weekend curfew as these metropolitan areas struggle to arrest the Covid-19 surge. Delhi reported its highest single-day surge since the onset of the pandemic on Saturday with more than 24,000 cases and Mumbai along with Pune remained among the worst affected urban areas in the nation as well as the world with more than 80,000 active cases. The nation’s largest state Uttar Pradesh also imposed a strict Sunday lockdown which will be followed every week until May 15 in a bid to curb the spread of the pandemic in the state.
Along with the spike in the number of Covid-19 cases, India is also seeing a rise in hospitalisations as healthcare systems across several states and cities are buckling under pressure. Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi and other states, which are seeing a surge in cases as well as deaths due to Covid-19, are facing issues like lack of medical oxygen, ICU beds and Remdesivir injections. People have been advised by the government to remain home in order to break the transmission of Covid-19. Experts have also urged people to go back to following the Covid-19 appropriate norms that they strictly adhered to during the onset of the pandemic in 2020 to battle this recent surge in cases.
