India’s Covid tally climbs to 1,32,05,926 with over 1.45L fresh cases; 794 new fatalities
With 12,787 new cases, UP registers highest single-day spike
NEW DELHI: Even though India has become the fastest country to administer 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine in 85 days, it continues to report an unprecedented surge in daily cases as 1,45,384 new infections were reported on Saturday.
With the new single-day highest number of cases reported in the last 24 hours, the country’s total tally surged to 1,32,05,0926, which includes 10,46,631 active cases, 1,19,90,859 recoveries and 1,68,436 deaths. India reported 77,567 recoveries in a single day.
The number of active cases has breached the 10-lakh mark again after around six-and-a-half months, while the death toll due to the viral disease has gone up to 1,68,436 with 794 more fatalities, the highest since October 18 last year, the ministry’s data stated.
The 794 fresh fatalities include 301 from Maharashtra, 91 from Chhattisgarh, 56 from Punjab, 46 from Karnataka, 42 from Gujarat, 39 from Delhi, 36 from Uttar Pradesh, 32 from Rajasthan, 23 each from Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, 22 from Kerala, 17 from Jharkhand and 11 each from Andhra Pradesh and Haryana.
Uttar Pradesh reported its highest single-day spike in Coronavirus cases since the outbreak with 12,787 infections on Saturday, up from 9,695 a day before, along with 48 deaths. India’s most populous state now has 58,799 active cases and the recovery rate stands at 90 per cent.
State capital Lucknow registered 4,059 cases, an all-time high for the city, on the last day. The city also recorded 23 deaths.
Meanwhile, India on Saturday scaled another peak in its effort to contain the Covid-19 virus with the administration of more than 100 million (10 crore) vaccine doses to its citizens.
According to the ministry's provisional report, with a total of 29,65,886 vaccine doses given till 8 pm on Saturday, the cumulative number of Covid vaccine doses administered in the country stands at 10,12,84,282. It has been achieved through 15,17,260 sessions involving 90,03,060 healthcare workers.
India has also become the fastest country in the world to achieve the 100 million vaccination mark as the USA achieved the 100-million mark in 89 days and China achieved the same milestone in 103 days.
In a related development, Maharashtra Health minister Rajesh Tope on Saturday asked the Centre to fix criteria to allocate vaccines to the state against Covid keeping in mind the number of people and the active caseload they have.
However, Tope once again alleged that many states, which have a lesser population than Maharashtra, have received more doses of the vaccine from the Centre. Notably, Maharashtra reported the highest 58,993 new Covid19 cases in the last 24 hours.