India has reported 1,31,968 new Covid-19 cases and 780 deaths in the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry said on Friday, taking the tally to 13,060,542. India is now the fourth-worst Covid-hit country worldwide after the number of active cases rose to 9,79,608. The death toll stood at 1,67,642, the Health Ministry said. The said number is highest since October 18.
A total of 61,899 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, taking the number of recoveries to 1,19,13,292 with a recovery rate of 91.22 per cent, while a total of 13,64,205 samples were tested in the last 24 hours. So far, 25,40,41,584 samples have been tested.
A total of 36,91,511 people were vaccinated in the last 24 hours taking the total vaccination count to 9,43,34,262.
Maharashtra hs lodged 56,286 fresh covid cases, pushing its total tally to 3,229,547, whereas Delhi logged 7,437 cases in its highest single-day spike this year
Out of the 780 new fatalities,376 are from Maharashtra, 94 from Chhattisgarh, 56 from Punjab, 39 from Uttar Pradesh, 36 from Karnataka, 35 from Gujarat, 27 from Madhya Pradesh, 24 from Delhi, 19 from Tamil Nadu, 18 from Kerala and 11 from Haryana.
In a meeting with chief ministers on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed all states and Union Territories to focus on aggressive testing and micro-containment to curb the spread of Covid-19.
"A challenging situation is emerging again. I request you all to give your suggestions to tackle the COVID-19 situation," PM Modi said, adding that people have become too casual in their approach towards covid appropriate behaviour.
However, the prime minister has ruled out imposing any lockdown in the country again but stressed the need to identify micro-containment zones in a mission mode.
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"We must concentrate on micro-containment zones. In places where night curfew has been imposed, I would urge you to use the word 'Corona Curfew', to continue alertness about coronavirus. It will be better to start curfew timing from 9 pm or 10 pm till 5 am or 6 am," Modi said.
PM Modi also proposed to observe ‘Tika Utsav (vaccine festival)’ for COVID-19 from April 11 (Jyotirao Phule’s birth anniversary) to April 14 (B R Ambedkar’s birth anniversary).