24,882 fresh COVID-19 cases in India, highest this year

India added 24,882 fresh COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours – the highest daily rise in the last 83 days – taking its tally to 1.13 crore cases, the Health Ministry data this morning showed. The number of fresh infections is nearly seven per cent higher than Friday, when the country registered 23,285 cases. Overall, India has now recorded 1,13,33,728 cases since the outbreak a year ago, according to the government data updated today.
In the 24-hour period, India reported 140 deaths linked to the virus taking the total number of fatalities to 1,58,446.

The country’s active caseload has reached 2,02,022, which constitutes 1.74 per cent of the total infections. The recovery rate dropped to 96.82 per cent.

The number of infections reported today is the highest daily rise since December 20 when as many as 26,624 new infections were recorded.

Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu account for 85.6 per cent of the new cases, the government said on Friday. “Five states cumulatively account for 82.96 per cent of the total active cases in the country. Two states – Maharashtra and Kerala- account for 71.69 per cent of India’s total active cases,” the Health Ministry said.

The situation in Maharashtra, which has consistently been reporting the highest cases in the country over the past year, has been under scrutiny for a while with several districts imposing partial lockdowns or night curfews.
The western state reported 15,817 fresh cases on Friday, its highest single-day tally this year. As on Friday, active cases in Maharashtra stood at 1,10,485 – an increment of over 4,000 since Thursday.

India is witnessing the worrying spike in the rate of Covid-19 infection amid an intensive and accelerating inoculation drive through which more than 2.61 crore (2,61,64,920) vaccine doses have been administered to the benficiaries so far.

These include 72,23,071 healthcare workers (HCWs) who have been administered the first dose and 40,56,285 HCWs who have been given the 2nd dose. 71,21,124 frontline workers (FLWs) have received the first jab and 6,72,794 FLWs who have taken the 2nd dose), the government said.

Besides, 10,30,612 beneficiaries aged more than 45 years with specific co-morbidities (1st Dose) and 60,61,034 beneficiaries aged more than 60 years have been administered the first dose, it said.