New Delhi: For the second consecutive day, India's single-day rise of new Covid-19 cases on Sunday breached the country's highest tally of 2021 so far.
It recorded 25,320 cases, an increase of 438 cases from Saturday. There were 161 deaths in the last 24 hours, a hike of 21 fatalities from the previous day, the data shared by the Union Health Ministry showed. The cumulative tally of the cases has risen to 1,13,59,048 while the death toll has reached 1,58,607 in India.
Maharashtra has reported 15,602 cases in the last 24 hours whereas Punjab recorded its highest single-day tally of this year with 1,515 new cases of Covid-19. The infection level in the country is back to last year's December as it has soared to 1.85 from 1.55 per cent in a short interval.
In the last four days, the number of fatalities has also spiked, which earlier was hovering under 100. The country on Saturday reported 24,882 new cases and 140 deaths. On Friday, it reported 22,885 Covid cases and 117 fatalities. The rise in the number of COVID cases, which had so far appeared confined to Maharashtra and Punjab, is now beginning to show up in several other states.
Other states such as Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh have had very similar growth trajectories in the recent weeks.
As the number of Covid-19 cases is rising across the country, the Centre has sounded a word of caution for states which are not yet seeing a surge but are at the verge. Niti Aayog (health) member VK Paul last week had said the situation of Maharashtra is worrying as part of the state is going back to strict lockdown. However, he shared his concerns for other states as well.
The Ministry also stated that 8,34,368 samples were tested on Saturday. The cumulative tests done by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) so far stands at 22,67,03,641 Also, 2,97,38,409 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in India since the drive started on January 16 after approval for 'Covishield' and 'Covaxin'.
(With inputs from IANS)
