Hello User
Sign in
Hello
Sign Out
Subscribe
Next Story
Business News/ News / India/  Coronavirus update: India reports over 81,000 new cases, highest in six months

Coronavirus update: India reports over 81,000 new cases, highest in six months

  • 469 more people succumbed to the disease across the country, the highest in around four months
  • The active tally has crossed the six-lakh mark yet again

A health worker takes a nasal swab sample to test for Covid-19 outside a court in Mumbai

As many as 81,466 more people tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative caseload in the country to 1,23,03,131, said the Union health ministry on Friday.

This is the biggest jump in daily new infections the country has reported in the last six months. Nearly 81,000 cases were reported on 1 October last year.

Also Read | Why Kerala may not swing this time round

Maharashtra continues to be the biggest contributor to the daily tally. The state reported the highest daily new cases at 39,544 on Thursday. It was followed by Chhattisgarh with 4,563 while Karnataka reported 4,225 new cases.

In addition to this, 469 more people succumbed to the disease across the country, the highest in around four months. The country had last seen 482 fatalities on 5 December 2020.

The cumulative death toll due to Covid-19 in India stands at 1,63,396.

A total of 50,356 more people also recuperated from the disease between Thursday and Friday. The total number of recoveries now stands at 1,15,25,039.

As a result, there are 6,14,696 active cases across the country currently, zooming past the six-lakh mark in tally yet again.

The active tally had breached the five-lakh mark on Monday.

Five states -- Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Punjab -- are continuing to show a steep rise in Covid-19 cases and accounted for 78.9% of the total active infections, the ministry said on Thursday.

India's Covid-19 tally had crossed the 20 lakh mark on 7 August, 30 lakh on 23 August, 40 lakh on 5 September and 50 lakh on 16 September. It went past 60 lakh on 28 September, 70 lakh on 11 October, crossed 80 lakh on 29 October, 90 lakh on 20 November and surpassed the one-crore mark on 19 December.

Tests conducted so far

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India has so far tested 24,59,12,587 samples for Covid-19.

Out of these, 11,13,966 samples were tested on Thursday.

Vaccinations in India

The country has so far administered 6,87,89,138 anti-Covid jabs.

The inoculation drive in India was rolled out on 16 January with healthcare workers getting inoculated and vaccination of the frontline workers started from 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 and above from Thursday.

Seeking to exponentially expand the number of people getting inoculated, the Centre has decided to keep all public and private sector Covid-19 vaccination centres (CVCs) operational throughout April, including on gazetted holidays.

The Union health ministry has written to all states and union territories on Thursday and asked them to make necessary arrangements for this to optimally utilise all vaccination centres across the public and private sectors to ensure a rapid increase in the pace and coverage of Covid inoculation.

"This decision is in line with the graded and pro-active approach employed by the government of India along with the states and union territories for Covid-19 vaccination," the health ministry said.

Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!

Catch all the Business News, Market News, Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.