India registered 1,03,558 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the highest ever single-day spike since the onset of the pandemic last year, taking the total tally to 1,25,89,067 on Monday. Daily cases in India had peaked on September 16, 2020, with 97,894 people testing positive for the virus in a single day. Monday's figure is the highest spike since the first case was detected in the country last January.
The country has witnessed an unabated rise in the number of fresh cases. States like Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Haryana have been deemed states of "grave concern".
The active cases have currently increased to 7,41,830 comprising 5.89 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate has further dropped to 92.80 per cent. On Monday, the death toll increased to 1,65,101 with 478 new fatalities.
The number of people who have recovered from the disease surged to 1,16,82,136, while the case fatality rate stood at 1.31 per cent, according to official data.
Taking note of the spike in cases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting on Sunday and directed that the "mission-mode" approach should continue in states and districts reporting the resurgence. He exhorted all states to take stringent measures with comprehensive restrictions in places so that the collective gains of Covid management in the country in the last 15 months are not squandered.
After the meet, PM Modi, in a tweet said: "Reviewed the COVID-19 and vaccination-related situation across the country. Reiterated the importance of the five-fold strategy of testing, tracing, treatment, Covid-appropriate behaviour and vaccination as an effective way to fight the global pandemic. (sic)"
The Centre has advised high-burden states and union territories to take stringent measures for containment of the surge.
Meanwhile, the Uddhav Thackeray government on Sunday has announced weekend lockdown and night curfew in Maharashtra from 8 pm to 7 am.
The central government has decided to send teams to Maharashtra, Punjab and Chhattisgarh as these states are seeing higher deaths and new covid cases.
According to the ICMR, 24,90,19,657 samples have been tested up to April 4 with 8,93,749 samples being tested on Sunday.
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So far, 7.91 crore doses of the corona vaccine have been administered in the country since the drive began on January 16. Those who are 45 and above are eligible for vaccination. India intends to vaccinate over 30 crore people by July.
The country India has reported the third-highest number of coronavirus cases in the world after the United States and Brazil.