India likely to cross 5 lakh mark in Covid cases today

India may cross the fivelakh mark in Covid cases on Friday. On Thursday, 17,895 were registered nationwide, taking the tally to

4,90,880. A total of 401 people died of the disease, and the toll now stands at 15,308.

According to the Union health ministry, India recorded 16,922 cases on Wednesday, taking its overall tally to 4,73,105 till Thursday morning. In the last 24 hours, 418 new fatalities were reported taking the toll to 14,894.

The ministry said that cases per lakh in India currently stand at 33.39 against the world’s

120.21 while death/lakh in the country is amongst the lowest in the world at with 1.06 against the world average of 6.24.

The ministry added that so far 2,71,696 patients have recovered, out of which 13,012 were discharged in the last 24 hours till Thursday morning, while 1,86,514 are under treatment. The recovery rate is now

57.43 per cent and India is globally ranked fourth in recovery rate as per Johns Hopkins University.

India has tested more than 75 lakh persons. In the last 24 hours, a little over 2 lakh tests were conducted.

Among those who have tested positive include 12 Army personnel in Kohima district of Nagaland. These personnel were at Jakhama Army camp quarantine centre after reporting to duty.

Apart from Maharashtra that reported 1,42,900 total cases so far out of which 3,890 are new, and Delhi that has logged 70,390 total cases with 3,788 new ones, Tamil Nadu is fast reporting many cases.

According to economist Prof Shamika Ravi, Tamil Nadu seems to be witnessing a second wave of cases since May end with higher number of deaths.

“Tamil Nadu had reported a large case load from the beginning of the pandemic in India and managed the first wave remarkably well, with very few deaths” she said while adding that such high numbers daily could be due to ineffective strategy of contact tracing, testing and isolation. She said there is a need for cluster analysis of testing data at the earliest.