India reported 275 new Covid-19 deaths on Wednesday morning, the most this year, as a second surge in cases fills up hospital beds in states like Maharashtra. Infections rose to 47,262 in the 24 hours preceding Wednesday morning, the highest since early November.
The Centre on Wednesday said a new “double mutant” variant of the virus, which was first detected in Maharashtra’s Nagpur in December last year, had now spread to 18 states. A “double mutation” is when two mutated strains of a virus come together to form a third strain.
At a briefing, the Health Ministry said, so far, the bulk of infections linked to this strain—around 20 per cent—have been reported from Maharashtra, 206 cases. Cases have also been reported from Delhi, Gujarat and Punjab, among other places, the ministry added.
Addressing a press conference, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan also said that about 88 per cent of all Covid-19 deaths in the country are in the age group of 45 years and above, making them the most vulnerable section that needs to be protected. He said the case fatality rate in this age group is 2.85 per cent.
“A majority of the active cases were in 10 districts—Pune, Nagpur, Mumbai, Thane, Nashik, Aurangabad, Bengaluru Urban, Nanded, Jalgaon and Akola. That is, nine districts from Maharashtra and one from Karnataka,” he added.
Maharashtra reported 31,855 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, its highest single-day spike since the outbreak of the pandemic, said a health official. Out of this, Mumbai reported 5,185 new Covid cases, 2,088 recoveries and 6 deaths.
Gujarat reported 1,790 new cases, 1,277 recoveries and 8 deaths as the state government issued a notification banning public celebration of Holi and said the ritual of “Holika Dahan” can be observed in small gatherings amid the pandemic in the state. As per the notification issued by the home department, public celebrations and mass functions cannot be allowed on the day of Dhuleti on March 29 due to the prevailing pandemic.
Kerala reported 2,456 new cases and 10 deaths on Wednesday. The active caseload has gone up to 24,268 whereas the total death toll rose to 4,527. Kozhikode reported the highest number of cases (333) on Wednesday, followed by Trivandrum (300) and Kannur (295).
Odisha’s coronavirus cases went up to 3,39,246 after 170 more people tested positive for the virus, the highest daily spike in the last 45 days, a health department official said. Of the 170 new cases, 99 were reported from quarantine centres, while the remaining 71 were detected during contact tracing, the official said.
Delhi recorded 1,254 new cases, its highest in over three months as six deaths took the fatality toll to 10,973. This comes as Delhi too has prohibited Holi celebrations in the state.
Uttarakhand reported 200 new Covid-19 cases and 49 recoveries on Wednesday. No death was reported. Total cases are at 98,880 with recoveries being 94,634; the death toll is 1,706 and the current active cases are 1,115.
Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday reported 1,712 new Covid-19 cases, taking its case tally to 2,80,289. Seven fatalities increased the death toll to 3,919, a health official said. As many as 950 people were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, taking the count of recoveries in Madhya Pradesh to 2,66,323.
Jammu and Kashmir recorded 195 new coronavirus cases, taking the tally to 1,29,031, while no fresh death was reported in the past 24 hours, officials said. Out of the fresh cases, 49 were from the Jammu Division and 146 from the Kashmir Division of the Union Territory, they said.
Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday reported 585 fresh Covid cases, the largest single day spike after December 9, pushing the caseload to 8,95,121. A total of 1.48 crore tests have been conducted so far and the overall infection positivity rate was 6.03 per cent.