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India adds 25,317 fresh Covid-19 cases, highest this year; recoveries over 10.9 million
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), as many as 864,368 samples were tested for Covid-19 across the country on Saturday and the total number of samples is now at 226,703,641.
India registered 25,317 cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and 161 related fatalities in the last 24 hours, which pushed the caseload and death toll to over 11.35 million and 158,607 respectively, according to the Union ministry of health and family welfare on Sunday. The active cases have now climbed to 210,544 and nearly 11 million people have recovered from the viral disease till now.
The daily cases reported on Sunday have been the highest since the beginning of 2021 and this is the sixth time that more than 20,000 cases have been reported during the year. Sunday’s cases are also more than 1.7 per cent higher than that of Saturday when 24,882 people tested positive for the disease. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), as many as 864,368 samples were tested for Covid-19 across the country on Saturday and the total number of samples is now at 226,703,641.
Covid-19 cases were witnessing an upward trend since early February after they had been declining since late September 2020. The Union health ministry said on Friday that eight states - Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka and Haryana - were seeing an upward trajectory in their daily cases.
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Maharashtra, which is the worst-hit state across India, added 15,602 fresh Covid-19 disease cases and 88 related deaths on Saturday. It was the second consecutive day daily cases in the western state that went over 15,000. The state’s caseload is nearing 2.3 million and 52,811 people have succumbed to the infection so far, according to the health department’s bulletin. The rising cases in Maharashtra since February 10 has led to the state authorities to impose lockdowns or curbs in several cities and districts in order to curb the spread of the disease.
Delhi saw 419 fresh cases on Saturday. This is the third consecutive day that cases in the national capital went above the 400-mark. However, health minister Satyendar Jain said on Friday that this sudden spike in numbers was ‘not alarming’ and added that the positivity rate in Delhi was still lower than 1 per cent.
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Meanwhile, India has vaccinated 28.2 million people so far with 2.05 million vaccinated on Saturday, the highest single-day figure, according to the health ministry. The nationwide vaccination drive was started on January 16, with doses being given to healthcare and frontline workers. The second phase of the drive was rolled out from March 1, where vaccination is being done for people above the age of 60 and those between the ages of 45-59 with specific co-morbidities.
