Coronavirus: India's total COVID-19 cases have risen to 93.09 lakh with 1,35,715 deaths so far.
The total number of active coronavirus cases in India crossed the 4.5 lakh mark for the first time after nine days on Thursday, when 43,082 new COVID-19 infections were recorded, government data shows. With this, India's total Covid cases have risen to 93,09,787. Up to 492 people also died of the highly infectious disease in the last 24 hours taking the overall Covid-related death count to 1,35,715. Total discharged cases rose to 87,18,517 with 39,379 new discharges in this period.
The rise in active COVID-19 cases comes amid apprehensions of a second wave nationally as infection rate has spiked in states with relatively fewer cases till now, including Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh. Many states have adopted localised restrictions, including night curfews, and doubled fines for not wearing masks and crowding.
Active case rise also coincides with winter and a third wave of infections in Delhi, which has caused alarm in neighbouring districts of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana.
Delhi has recorded over 2,300 COVID-19 deaths in less than a month. In the last 24 hours, the national capital recorded 5,475 cases with 91 deaths.
This was the highest number of deaths recorded across the country in the last 24 hours, followed by Maharashtra (65), West Bengal (52), Uttar Pradesh (30), and Kerala (27).
As the city fails to shake off its most severe wave of Covid infections till now, the High court has told the government to immediately decide on night curfew and implement it without delay.
Maharashtra - worst-hit in terms of absolute numbers at 18 lakh Covid infections till now - is once seeing a rise in active cases. The state's 7-day moving average of active cases clearly indicates a rising trend since Diwali.
In the past day, Maharashtra recorded the highest daily cases at 6,406, followed by Delhi (5,475), Kerala (5,378), West Bengal (3,507), and Rajasthan (3,180).
To avoid a relapse, it has made a negative-Covid report from an RT-PCR test mandatory for all people from Rajasthan, Gujarat and Goa entering the state.
With coronavirus cases surging in parts of the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit India's top vaccine hubs in Pune and Hyderabad this weekend amid redoubled efforts to zero in on an effective vaccine.
India's recovery rate stood at 93.6 per cent in the last 24 hours with a positivity rate of 3.8 per cent and a death rate of 1.5 per cent.
