JOIN USIndia reports 9,304 new coronavirus cases; sees third fastest daily increase globally
India’s COVID-19 count witnessed a record single-day increase as 9,304 new cases were reported from across the country on Thursday, taking the total cases to 2,16,919.
The death toll also spiked sharply by 260 to cross the 6,000-mark to settle at 6,075, while the active cases continued to grow rapidly to touch 1,06,737.
According to experts, the number of active cases which were doubling every 23 days till Wednesday are now adding up faster. The number of patients recovering from the infectious disease also increased by 3,804, pegging the recovery rate at 47.99 per cent, which is marginally less than that of Wednesday.
The Worldometer.info statistics showed that India is the third fastest country in terms of new COVID-19 infections world over after Brazil and the US.
According to the website, Brazil added 27,312 new patients on Wednesday, followed by the US (20,578) and India (9,633).
The COVID-19 cases continued to increase unabated in Maharashtra with a total of 74,860 cases reported so far, followed by Tamil Nadu with 25,872 cases, Delhi with 23,645 cases and Gujarat with 18,100 cases.
Maharashtra has also reported the highest number of deaths from the disease, at least 2,587, followed by 1,122 in Gujarat and 606 in Delhi.
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday voiced concern over the high positivity rate and low testing levels in the national capital. He said while the average testing per million population for Delhi was 2018, at least two districts – north-east and south-east were testing far less samples.
Last week, more than 25 per cent of the samples tested across the capital turned to be positive for COVID-19, the minister said, asking the UT administration to step up contact tracing and surveillance.
District officers in the national capital said people are getting complacent with physical distancing measures during the Unlock 1.0 phase which was a factor in the recent surge in infections.
Also, the officers pointed out challenges in maintaining the sanctity of containment zones, given the density of the population in some parts of the capital.
According to a separate DH COVID-19 Tracker, the total confirmed cases across the capital was 2,16,853 and the death toll was 6,076 at 6:15 p.m. on Thursday.