Grim milestone: India records yet another highest single-day spike; Delhi, Maharashtra badly-hit

New Delhi: India recorded 2,34,692 fresh COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the highest single-day spike ever, pushing the overall tally to 1,45,26,609, according to the data released by Ministry of health.

This is the third consecutive day that the country has registered over 2 lakh COVID-19 cases. India reported 2,00,739 and 2,17,353 cases on Thursday and Friday respectively. Meanwhile, as many as 1,341 people lost their lives in the last 24 hours, taking the country's death total to 1,75,649 so far. The daily active cases tally on Friday shot up to 16,79,740.

In a little sigh of relief, a total of 1,23,354 patients recovered on Friday, taking the number of recoveries to 1,26,71,220, with a recovery rate of 87.23 per cent. The Health Ministry stated that a total of 14,95,397 samples were tested in the last 24 hours. So far, 26,49,72,022 samples have been tested in India.

According to the government data, a total of 30,04,544 people were also vaccinated in the same period, taking the total inoculation count to 11,99,37,641. Weekend restrictions are back in Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and other states. Maharashtra, earlier this week, declared stringent restrictions for 15 days.

FIVE MOST AFFECTED STATES

Delhi and Maharashtra recorded their biggest single-day rise in COVID cases since early 2020. The five most affected states by total cases are Maharashtra (3,703,584), Kerala (1,197,301), Karnataka (1,109,650), Tamil Nadu (962,935), and Andhra Pradesh (942,135).

Meanwhile, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan will hold a meet with health ministers of 11 states on COVID crisis. On the other side, over 12 crore doses of vaccines have been administered so far, according to the Health Ministry.

KUMBH MELA SHOULD BE SYMBOLIC

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the ongoing Kumbh Mela in Haridwar must be ‘symbolic’ to help country in its fight against novel coronavirus after speaking to Swami Avdheshanand Giri over the phone. Several seers have tested positive for contagion and two chief seers, have succumbed to the infection.