Driven by a spurt in new coronavirus cases in a few states, particularly Maharashtra, India logged 35,871 fresh Covid- 19 cases in a 24-hour period as of Thursday morning, the highest single-day jump in over 100 days.
Registering an increase for the eighth consecutive day, the active caseload reached 2,52,364, a jump of 17,958 cases from the previous day, according to Union Health Ministry data updated at 8 a.m. on Thursday. The country’s total tally of infections has gone up to 1,14,74,605.
The cases increased by 6,968 from the previous day, the data showed. With the death of 172 people in the last 24 hours, the Covid- 19 toll has reached 1,59,216.
Of the 35,871 new cases reported as of Thursday morning, Maharashtra accounted for as many as 16,620 cases, and according to data provided by the state health department on Thursday evening, the state logged 25,833 fresh cases of Covid over the last 24 hours, the highest since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, effectively making it the epicentre of the second wave of the pandemic.
Nagpur city on the second consecutive day recorded highest number of new Covid-19 cases at 2,926, followed by 2,877 in Mumbai and 2,791 in Pune city.
In addition to Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu continue to report a surge in new Covid-19 cases. 79.54 per cent of the new cases are from these five states. A rising trend is also seen in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Haryana. Punjab, confronting a spurt in new cases, today announced a two-hour extension in the night curfew in the state’s nine worst-hit districts.
Delhi sees 607 cases, highest this year:
Delhi today recorded 607 new Covid cases, the highest this year so far, while one more fatality pushed its coronavirus toll to 10,949, the Delhi government’s latest health bulletin said.