With over 81,000 new COVID-19 cases, India reports biggest one-day spike in 6 months; active cases breach 6 lakh-mark

New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: Amid the concerns over rising COVID-19 cases in the country that has prompted the authorities to impose several restrictions, India, during the last 24 hours recorded over 81,000 fresh infections taking the overall caseload in the country to over 1.23 crore. The death toll in the country due to the deadly pathogen also reached above 1.63 lakh-mark after 469 new fatalities were reported from across the country during the day. 

The single-day rise in cases is the highest recorded since October 2, 2020, while the death toll increased to 1,63,396 with 469 daily new fatalities, the highest since December 6. As many as 81,484 new infections were recorded in a span of 24 hours on October 2 while 482 daily deaths were registered on December 6.

According to the Union Health Ministry, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Punjab, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh continue to show a massive spike in new COVID-19 cases, accounting for 84.61 per cent of the fresh infections reported in a span of 24 hours. 

Registering a steady increase for the 23rd day in a row, the active cases have increased to 6,14,696 comprising 5 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate has further dropped to 93.67 per cent. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 11525039. The case fatality rate stood at 1.33 per cent. 

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

This comes at a time when India expanded its inoculation drive from April 1 in which all people of 45 years of age or above can get the COVID-19 vaccine shot at various vaccination centres across the country. More than 36 lakh people were vaccinated on Thursday, taking the total number of beneficiaries in the countrywide vaccination drive to over six crore.

Meanwhile, the government had on Thursday also decided to operationalise both public and private sector vaccination centres throughout the month of April, including on gazetted holidays.

Check state-wise list here

Posted By: Talibuddin Khan