New Delhi: For the second consecutive day on Saturday, COVID-19 cases in India rose by the biggest numbers in a single-day. According to the Union health ministry, 6,654 new infections were reported in the 24 hours since 8 am on Friday, taking the total tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases to more than 1.25 lakh. The death toll rose to 3,720 after 137 more deaths were reported during the period.
The health ministry said that active COVID-19 cases stand at 69,597, while 51,783 people have recovered and a patient has migrated. “Thus, around 41.39% patients have recovered so far,” the ministry said. The total of 1,25,101 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection includes foreigners.
Of the 137 deaths reported since Friday morning, 63 were in Maharashtra, 29 in Gujarat, 14 each from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, six from West Bengal, four from Tamil Nadu, two each from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, and one from Haryana.
Of the total toll of 3,720, Maharashtra accounts for 1,517 deaths, followed by Gujarat at 802, Madhya Pradesh at 272, West Bengal at 265 and Delhi at 208. The number of deaths due to the contagion in Rajasthan is 153, while 152 people died in Uttar Pradesh, 98 in Tamil Nadu and 55 in Andhra Pradesh. The COVID-19 death toll reached 45 in Telangana, 41 in Karnataka and 39 in Punjab.
The highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 44,582 followed by Tamil Nadu at 14,753, Gujarat at 13,268 and Delhi at 12,319. There are 6,494 coronavirus cases Rajasthan, 6,170 in Madhya Pradesh and 5,735 in Uttar Pradesh. The number of infections has gone up to 3,332 in West Bengal, 2,709 in Andhra Pradesh and 2,177 in Bihar. As many as 2,029 people have been infected with the virus in Punjab, 1,761 in Telangana, 1,743 in Karnataka, 1,489 in Jammu and Kashmir and 1,189 in Odisha. In Haryana, 1,067 people are afflicted with the disease.
India’s cases continue to rise at more than 5,000 per day
Sixty days after the lockdown was imposed to contain the spread of the virus, India has recorded its highest single-day spike in new infections on Saturday. In the past four day, more than 6,000 new cases have been reported on three, while around 5,600 cases were reported on the other day. For the past seven days, India has on average reported more than 5,500 cases each day.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the country’s three-day rolling average of 6,133 new cases is one of the highest in the world. Only the US, Brazil and Russia, the countries with the highest number of infections, have reported a higher average of new cases than India.
Ten countries have reported a higher total than India, but the rate of new cases is declining in most. Iran, which has around 6,000 more cases than India, has a three-day rolling average of 2,300 new cases. If this stays the same, India is expected to overtake Iran in a day or two.
Also read: The Novel Coronavirus Story so Far, From Virology’s Point of View
Global updates
Around the world, more than 5.2 million cases of the viral infection have been confirmed. The pandemic has resulted in the deaths of at least 3.38 lakh people. The US accounts for the highest number of cases (1.6 million) and deaths (96,007).
More than 2 million people people have recovered from the infection, which has been reported in 188 countries or regions.
(With PTI inputs)