India recorded a massive surge of 1,61,736 Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. Taking the country’s Covid tally to 1,36,89,453 cases and making it the second worst-hit nation in terms of total cases and the third worst-hit in terms of active cases. India also witnessed 880 fatalities due to Covid-19 in a single day. The death toll from the deadly infection stands at 171,089.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Tuesday said, “India has 89.51 percent people who have been cured of Covid-19, 1.25 per cent deaths related to the viral infection and 9.24 percent active
cases currently. If we look at the new cases, we will find that the previous highest surge has already been crossed and the trend is going upward. That is a cause for worry.”
Amid concerns of a vaccine shortage in the country, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has approved the use of the Sputnik V vaccine for usage, according to the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). It is set to be the third vaccine against Covid-19 in India.
RDIF said that India is expected to make 50 million doses of Sputnik V each month this summer. RDIF head Kirill Dmitriev told reporters on Tuesday that besides the tie-up with five drug companies, they are looking for more partnerships in India, some for production pacts.
Meanwhile, Bhushan assured that despite the surge, there is no shortage of vaccines. “In the last 24 hours, over 40 lakh doses were administered. As per data till 11 am today, unutilised doses available with states and UTs is over 1,67,20,000. This month— till April end—2,01,22,960 doses will be provided to states and UTs. This clearly shows that the issue is about better planning and not the shortage of doses,» Bhushan said.
He added that if wastage is taken into account and consumption is looked at, then states and UTs used 11.43 crore doses till now. “Till now we›ve provided 13,10,90,000 doses to states and union territories. On one hand, we have states like Kerala where there is zero wastage (of vaccine) and on the other hand, we have several other states where there still is 8-9 percent of wastage,” said the Health Secretary.
The five most affected states by total cases are Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh.
As many as 60,212 fresh Covid-19 cases have been reported in Maharashtra, where CM Uddhav Thackeray announced a 15-day Janata Curfew. With this the active number of cases reached 5,93,042. The state also reported 281 deaths in 24 hours. The positivity rate stands at 15.6%.
Delhi recorded as many as 13,468 fresh coronavirus cases, the sharpest daily spike this year. With this, the tally of Covid-19 cases in the national capital has reached over 7.50 lakh, while the death toll mounted to 11,436. 81 fatalities have been recorded in the last 24 hours. The case tally stands at 7,50,156 in the national capital, including 6,95,210 patients who have either been discharged or have migrated or recovered. The number of active cases is 43,510, of which 21,954 are in home isolation.
Uttar Pradesh reported the highest-ever single-day spike of 18,021 coronavirus cases while 85 fatalities took the death toll in the state to 9,309. The total number of cases in the state stands at 7,23,582 and the active caseload is 95,980.
Gujarat reported 6,690 new coronavirus cases, 2748 discharges and 67 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Rajasthan reported 5,528 new cases, 1,251 recoveries and 28 deaths in the same period.
Goa reported 562 new coronavirus cases, 236 recoveries and 3 deaths in the last 24 hours, the total case tally rose to 63,342, and active cases stood at 4,888.
Uttarakhand reported 1,925 new cases, including 775 cases in Dehradun and 594 cases in Haridwar, taking the total number of cases to 112,071.
Kerala recorded 7,515 Covid-19 cases, taking the total caseload to 11.80 lakh as active cases mounted to 52,132. As many as 2,959 people were cured of the infection, taking the total recoveries to 11,23,133. The test positivity rate stood at 10.23 percent. The death count has gone up to 4,814 with 20 more fatalities being added to the tally.
Andhra Pradesh added 4,228 infections, the highest daily count in exactly six months. The active caseload also crossed the 25,000 mark to 25,850. The gross Covid-19 positives in Andhra Pradesh has now risen to 9,32,892, recoveries 8,99,721 and deaths 7,321.
Karnataka reported 8,778 new coronavirus cases including 5,500 cases in Bengaluru Urban district, 6,079 discharges and 67 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Tamil Nadu reported 6,984 new cases, 3,289 recoveries and 18 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Jammu and Kashmir recorded 1,269 new Covid-19 cases, taking the tally to 1,40,650, while three deaths pushed the toll to 2,037. Out of the fresh cases, 582 were from the Jammu Division and 687 from the Kashmir Division.