India Reports Just Under 90,000 Daily COVID-19 Cases

A vaccination camp of MGF Toyota for employees and their family members, April 2, 2021. Photo: PTI

New Delhi: India on Saturday recorded 89,129 new daily COVID-19 cases, the highest daily rise in around six-and-half-months, taking the nationwide tally of infections to over 1.23 crore, according to the Union health ministry data on Saturday.

The death toll increased to 1,64,110 with 714 more fatalities in a day, also the highest since October 21.

The jump in cases reported on Saturday was the highest since September 20 last year, when 92,605 new infections were recorded in a span of 24 hours.

Corresponding to the rapid surge in cases, the number of active cases to have registered a steady increase for the 24th day in a row with the tally reaching 6,58,909, which is 5.32% of the total infections. The recovery rate stands at 93.36%, the data stated.

The active caseload was at its lowest at 1,35,926 on February 12 and comprised 1.25% of the total infections.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,15,69,241, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.32%, the health ministry data stated.

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 last year. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20. The one-crore mark was breached on December 19 last year.

On the vaccination front, India administered almost 31 lakh doses on Friday. This has taken the total number of doses administered in the country to more than 7.30 crore. Starting from Thursday, all people above 45 years have been allowed to take the vaccine.

According to news agency PTI, Union cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba on Friday told senior administrative and police officials that the coronavirus situation in 11 states and Union Territories was of “grave concern”. He said these states and Union Territories accounted for 90% of the new cases and 90.5% of deaths reported in the past fortnight.

Gauba also asked state officials to ensure that people follow protocols such as wearing face masks and physical distancing in public. He stressed increasing the number of tests to ensure effective and prompt isolation of infected persons.