India's Covid-19 count shot up by 23,285 cases on Friday with eight states, including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, showing an upward trajectory in daily new cases.
This single-day increase was the highest in 78 days, i.e. since December 24, when India had reported 24,712 cases.
India's Covid-19 vaccination drive slowed down on Thursday owing to Mahashivratri celebrations across states with over 4.80 lakh doses administered in a day as against the 10 lakh+ doses that have been the norm for the past few days.
India has recorded 1,13,08,846 Covid-19 cases as on Friday morning, of which 1,09,53,303 have recovered and 1,58,306 have died.
The total number of active cases rose to 1,97,237, which now comprises 1.74 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate has dropped to 96.86 per cent.
On March 11, vaccinators administered 4,80,740 jabs to beneficiaries across the country, of which 2,46,158 were given to persons above 60 years.
The Health Ministry said many had observed a fast on account of Mahashivratri, particularly women including ANMs, ASHA workers and women vaccinators, which led to the low coverage.
India's Covid-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.
Of the 117 new fatalities reported on Friday, 57 were from Maharashtra, 18 were from Punjab and 13 were from Kerala.
Of the total deaths, 52,667 were from Maharashtra. The second highest death toll was reported from Tamil Nadu (12,535), followed by Karnataka (12,381), Delhi(10,934), West Bengal (10,286), Uttar Pradesh (8,741) and Andhra Pradesh (7,179).
The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.
(Published 12 March 2021, 02:54 IST)
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