New Delhi: With a record registration of 27,114 cases in one day, India’s COVID-19 tally zoomed past the eight-lakh mark on Saturday. According to the Union Ministry of Health, India witnessed a dramatic rise of one lakh cases in just four days, even as it it progresses on the path of coming out of its nationwide lockdown.
The updated data at 8 am on Saturday showed that the total cases in the country surged to 8,20,916, while the death toll climbed to 22,123 with 519 people succumbing to the disease in 24 hours.
The country registered more than 22,000 coronavirus cases for the eighth consecutive day. Many state governments are now imposing stricter lockdowns on the basis of localities to deal with the surge in cases.
Coronavirus cases are rising dramatically. It took 110 days for the number of cases to reach one lakh but merely 53 more days to race past the eight-lakh mark.
It took 64 days for COVID-19 cases to cross the one lakh mark from 100 cases, and another fortnight to cross two lakh on June 3. It took 10 days for the tally to touch the three lakh-mark and another eight days for the cases to climb above four lakh on June 21.
In another six days, the total tally raced past the five-lakh mark. Then it crossed the seven lakh mark in 10 days.
According to the Union health ministry data on Saturday, the number of recoveries stands at 5,15,385 while there are 2,83,407 active cases. The total number of confirmed cases include foreigners.
“Thus, around 62.78% of patients have recovered so far,” an official said.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 1,13,07,002 swab samples have been tested for COVID-19 up to July 10, out of which, 2,82,511 swabs were tested on Friday.
Relatives pray before the cremation of a woman, who died due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) at a crematorium in New Delhi, India, July 8, 2020. Photo: Reuters
State-wise break-up
Of the 519 new deaths reported on Saturday, 226 are from Maharashtra, 64 from Tamil Nadu, 57 from Karnataka, 42 from Delhi, 27 from Uttar Pradesh and 26 from West Bengal. Andhra Pradesh reported 15 fatalities, Gujarat 14, Telangana eight and Rajasthan six.
Assam and Jammu and Kashmir reported five deaths each, followed by Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Punjab with four deaths each. Haryana and Puducherry suffered three fatalities each while two people succumbed to the viral infection in Chhattisgarh.
Of the total 22,123 deaths reported so far, Maharashtra tops the tally with 9,893 fatalities followed by Delhi with 3,300 deaths, Gujarat 2,022, Tamil Nadu 1,829, Uttar Pradesh 889, West Bengal 880, Madhya Pradesh 638, Karnataka 543 and Rajasthan 497.
The health ministry stressed that more than 70% of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.
Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases (2,38,461) followed by Tamil Nadu (1,30,261), Delhi (1,09,140), Gujarat (40,069), Uttar Pradesh (33,700), Karnataka (33,418) and Telangana (32,224).
The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 27,109 in West Bengal, 25,422 in Andhra Pradesh, 23,174 in Rajasthan, 19,934 in Haryana and 16,657 in Madhya Pradesh.
Meanwhile, the Sikkim government has decided to allow only those security personnel to enter the Himalayan state who test negative for coronavirus, a senior health official said on Saturday.
WHO praises Dharavi effort
The World Health Organisation has praised the efforts taken to contain the spread of the COVID-19 in Dharavi, one of the world’s largest slums, underscoring the need for community engagement along with national unity and global solidarity to turn the pandemic around.
Dharavi, which is located in India’s commercial capital Mumbai, is spread over an area of 2.5 square kilometres and has a population of 650,000. People live in shanties and dilapidated buildings with narrow lanes and open sewers.
The first COVID-19 patient in Dharavi was found on April 1, nearly three weeks after Mumbai recorded its maiden positive case on March 11.
US sees similar surge
New cases of COVID-19 rose by over 69,000 across the United States on Friday, according to a Reuters tally, setting a record for the third consecutive day. Amidst this, the Walt Disney Co stuck to its plans to reopen its flagship theme park in hard-hit Florida.
A total of nine US states: Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Ohio, Utah and Wisconsin, also reached records for single-day infections.
In Texas, another hot zone, Governor Greg Abbott warned on Friday he may have to impose new clampdowns if the state cannot stem its record-setting caseloads and hospitalisations through masks and social distancing.
(With Reuters and PTI inputs)