Coronavirus update: India reports close to 1.70 lakh cases in new high, active tally past 12 lakh

As many as 1,68,912 more people tested positive for Covid-19 across the country in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative caseload to 1,35,27,717, said the Union health ministry on Monday morning.

This is the biggest spike in new cases India has seen so far. The country has been reporting over one lakh cases since Wednesday last week.

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Ten states -- Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan -- have shown a steep rise in the daily new infections.

Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 63,294. It is followed by Chhattisgarh with 10,521 while Uttar Pradesh has reported 12,748 new cases.

The total number of fatalities in the country has reached 1,70,179 with 904 more people succumbing to the disease in the last 24 hours.

The death toll due to Covid-19 has been seeing a steady upward trend too as the second wave rages.

In addition to this, 75,086 have recuperated from the disease, taking the total number of recoveries to 1,21,56,529.

As a result, there are 12,01,009 active cases in the country currently. India has breached the 12-lakh mark in active tally for the first time.

The count had reached 11 lakh on Sunday and jumped by a lakh in only 24 hours.

Five states -- Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala -- cumulatively accounted for 70.82% of India's active Covid-19 cases on Sunday, the health ministry said.

Maharashtra alone accounts for 48.57% of the total active caseload of the country.

Tests conducted so far

India has tested 25,78,06,986 samples for Covid-19 until now, said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Out of these, 11,80,136 samples were tested on Sunday.

Government's report

Sixteen states -- Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab and Kerala -- are displaying an upward trajectory in daily new cases.

In light of this, the central teams have reported non-adherence of Covid-19 appropriate behaviour in almost all of the 50 most-affected districts in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Punjab, the ministry said.

On the basis of feedback from the teams, the ministry has written to the states highlighting the areas of concern, including sub-optimal containment operations and contact tracing, skewed testing and shortage of health workers. Authorities need to work in these areas.

Vaccinations in India

The country has so far administered 10,45,28,565 anti-Covid jabs to beneficiaries.

The cumulative number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 10 crore mark on Sunday.

On the first day of ‘tika utsav’, more than 27 lakh Covid-19 vaccine doses were administered, said the health ministry.

The tika utsav refers to a special Covid-19 vaccination drive between 11 to 14 April.

The day-1 of the countrywide drive saw many workplace vaccination centres becoming operational.

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.