As many as 1,45,384 more people tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative tally to 1,32,05,926, said the Union health ministry on Saturday morning.
This is the biggest jump in new cases the country has reported since the outbreak of the disease. The infection graph is continuing to see a steep hike and has been crossing the 1-lakh mark for the last three days.
Ten states including Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Rajasthan have shown a rise in the Covid cases, the ministry said.
Among these, Maharashtra continues to be the biggest contributor as the state clocked in 58,993 new Covid cases taking the total number of cases to 32,88,540 on Friday. The state has been recording more than 55,000 cases over the past few days.
In addition to this, 794 more people succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 1,68,436.
The daily fatalities have also been seeing record jump as the second wave of coronavirus rages across the country.
In addition to this, 77,567 more people have recuperated from the disease. The total number of recoveries now stands at 77,567.
As a result, there are 10,46,631 active cases in the country currently. The country has breached the 10-lakh mark in active tally once again.
The nine-lakh count was crossed on Monday, making this the fastest addition of one-lakh active cases.
Tests conducted so far
India has tested 25,52,14,803 samples for Covid-19 until now, said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Out of these, 11,73,219 samples tested on Friday
Containment measures
Several states have initiated precautionary measures to minimise the spread of the coronavirus, including night curfews, travel restrictions, and ramping up of vaccinations.
Over the last week, night curfews have been imposed in parts of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Delhi, West Bengal, Karnataka and Maharashtra, among several others.
Vaccinations in India
The country has so far administered 9,80,75,160 anti-Covid jabs to beneficiaries.
However, several states have flagged concerns regarding shortage of vaccines.
Rajasthan joined Maharashtra to say on Friday that the inoculation drive will have to be halted due to insufficient stock.
State Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said that the Centre's claim of no shortage of Covid-19 vaccines in the country is wrong and demanded that a status report on availability of doses be made public.
On the other hand, Union health Minister Harsh Vardhan maintained that there is no shortage of shots in India.
“All the claims of states are baseless and centre is supplying vaccines to all states equitably irrespective of the ruling party. The central government is working very hard in controlling the pandemic and speeding up the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination program and states should support it instead of playing politics," Harsh Vardhan told Mint.
“Whichever states are reporting to us about shortage we are supplying the adequate vaccines without delay," he said.
The inoculation drive in India was rolled out on 16 January with HCWs getting inoculated and the vaccination of the FLWs started on 2 February.
The next phase of Covid-19 vaccination commenced on 1 March for those who are above 60 years of age and for people aged 45 and above with specified comorbid conditions.
India extended the drive to include everybody aged 45 last week.
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