Single-day spike of 40,425 new COVID-19 cases in India

India’s COVID-19 cases tally crossed the 11 lakh mark with the highest single-day spike of 40,425 new cases and 681 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, informed the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on Monday.

Total cases in the country now stands at 11, 18,043 while the death toll is 27,497.

The health ministry said that the total number of cases includes 3, 90,459 active cases and 7, 00,087 patients have been cured.

Maharashtra remains the worst affected state with 3, 10, 455 cases reported until July 19.

As per the information provided by the Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR), 1, 40, 47,908 samples have been tested for covid-19 till July 19 ,of these 2,56,039 samples were tested yesterday.

The case fatality rate (CFR) has for the first time dropped below 2.5 percent which makes India’s CFR 1.78 points lower than the global average.

According to data released by the Union Health Ministry on July 19, 29 states and Union Territories have a CFR that is below the national average, with 14 states reporting a CFR of less than 1%.

However some states in the country where the CFR is higher than the national average is a matter of concern.

Among the big states, Maharashtra (3.85), Gujarat (4.48) and West Bengal (2.67) continue to report CFR above the national average.

Among those with CFR below the national average are Telangana (0.93), Andhra Pradesh (1.31), Tamil Nadu (1.75), Karnataka (2.06) and Uttar Pradesh (2.36) – states that have among the highest virus caseloads and which have been driving India’s Covid surge over the last two weeks.

Meanwhile, a study conducted jointly by researchers at IIT Bhubaneswar and the AIIMS here has shown that the spread of COVID-19 may pick up during peak monsoon and winter with a fall in the temperature.