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India records nearly 47,000 new Covid-19 cases, 212 deaths; tally over 11.6 mn
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said 23,44,45,774 samples were tested for Covid-19 up to Sunday and of these, 880,655 samples were tested on the same day.
India recorded nearly 47,000 cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19), in yet another spike in daily infections, indicating a resurgence of the virus in the world’s third-worst affected country after the United States and Brazil, the Union ministry of health and family welfare’s data showed on Monday. The country’s daily Covid-19 cases peaked at nearly 100,000 a day in September and were falling until late in February. There have been more than 40,000 coronavirus disease cases reported in the last three days, which have added 131,750 infections to India’s tally.
According to the Union health ministry’s dashboard updated at 8am, India registered 46,951 cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and 212 related fatalities, which have taken the country's cumulative tally past 11,646,081 and the death toll to 159,967 in the last 24 hours. The active caseload in the country was logged at 334,646 after 25,559 cases were added in 24 hours. With 21,180 recoveries between Sunday and Monday morning, 11,151,468 people have recovered from the viral disease so fay, according to the health ministry. The national recovery rate now stands at 95.75%.
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The ministry’s dashboard also showed that 4,50,65,998 people have been vaccinated against Covid-19 across the country to date. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said 23,44,45,774 samples were tested for Covid-19 up to Sunday and of these, 880,655 samples were tested on the same day.
The health ministry said on Sunday Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh account for 83.14 per cent of the new infections. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, Gujarat and Haryana are displaying an upward trajectory in daily new cases, according to the ministry.
The health ministry also warned that a huge gathering of devotees for the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar could send Covid-19 cases surging. Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan in a letter to Uttarakhand’s chief secretary strongly highlighting the concerns raised by a high-level central team about the need for stringent measures to control the spread of the disease. "The state has been informed that the daily testing numbers reported in Haridwar (i.e.50,000 Rapid Antigen Tests and 5,000 RTPCR tests) are not enough to effectively offset the huge number of expected pilgrim footfall. It has been advised that the share of RTPCR tests being conducted at present needs to be significantly increased as per the ICMR guidelines to ensure that the pilgrims and local population are appropriately tested," the letter read.
"The state government is also advised to undertake the following measures:- Follow scrupulously the SOPs issued by MoHFW. Display signages to disseminate the main points of these SoPs; Increase awareness of self-reporting, especially among local population, in case of symptoms suggestive of COVID-19," it added.
The central team led by the director of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) visited Uttarakhand on March 16-17 to review the medical and public health measures undertaken by the state for the ongoing Kumbh Mela in Haridwar.
