India saw its worst-ever single-day spike in coronavirus cases, with 77,266 cases being recorded in a single day, taking the country’s total to 3,392,295. With 1,065 fatalities reported in the last 24 hours, the country’s death toll now stands at 61,725.
There are currently 7,25,991 active cases in India. While the recovery rate has risen to 76.2%, the mortality rate is still hovering around 1.83%, with over 60,000 deaths. The five most affected states as per total tally of cases are Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh.
Kanyakumari Congress MP H Vasanthakumar died after battling Covid-19 at a hospital in Chennai. The 70-year-old lawmaker was in a critical condition. Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered condolences for his death, tweeting, “Saddened by the demise of Lok Sabha MP Shri H. Vasanthakumar Ji. His strides in business and social service efforts were noteworthy. During my interactions with him, I always saw his passion towards Tamil Nadu’s progress. Condolences to his family and supporters. Om Shanti.”
Among individual state tallies, Maharashtra reported a big surge of 14,361 new Covid-19 cases, taking the total to 7,47,995 cases, of whom 1,80,718 cases are active. 331 new deaths in the state pushed the total death toll to 23,775. However, as many as 11,607 patients were discharged today and took the total recoveries till date up to 5,43,170.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh crossed the 4-lakh Covid-19 cases mark with over 10,000 fresh positive cases for the third straight day. Total recoveries also increased to over three lakhs.
Kerala recorded 2,543 new Covid-19 cases and 2,097 recoveries in the last 24 hours, taking active cases in the state to 23,111 and recoveries to 45,858. Meanwhile, Karnataka recorded a spike of 8,960 Covid-19 cases in the same period, taking the total in the state to 3,18,752.
On the other end, Delhi reported 1,808 fresh Covid-19 cases and 20 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of positive cases in the national capital to 1,69,412, including 1,51,473 recoveries, 13,550 active cases and 4,389 deaths.
In the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh, 77 coronavirus-related fatalities were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 3,294, while 5,447 new cases pushed the infection tally to 2,13,824.
Haryana also reported 1,298 new Covid-19 cases and 15 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the number of total cases to 60,596, which includes 49,710 recoveries and 661 deaths. India›s top woman wrestler from Haryana, Vinesh Phogat, also tested positive for Covid-19. The Asian and Commonwealth Games gold-medallist, who was selected for this year›s Khel Ratna award, had been training in her village in Sonepat.
In the east, West Bengal reported 2,982 new Covid-19 cases, 3,286 recoveries and 56 deaths in the last 24 hours. The total number of cases in the state now stands at 1,53,754, including 26,349 active cases, 1,24,332 discharged cases and 3,073 deaths.