35,871 cases in 24 hours; 150% rise in 70 dists from Mar 1-15

With Maharashtra seeing a huge spike, India registered a surge of 35,871 fresh coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the highest since early December, a day after the Government said a total of 70 districts in 16 States have seen an increase of more than 150 per cent active cases between March 1 and 15.

The infection tally has rises to 1,14,74,605, according to the Union Health Ministry data while the active caseload has reached 2,52,364 which accounts for 2.20 per cent of the total infections. The recovery rate has further dropped to 96.41 per cent, the data updated at 8 am on Thursday showed.

The death toll too increased to 1,59,216 with 172 new fatalities. The single-day spike of 35,871 cases is the highest in 102 days. As many as 36,011 new infections were recorded on December 6.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,10,63,025, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.39 per cent, according to the data.

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.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, 23,03,13,163 samples had been tested up to March 17 with 10,63,379 being tested on Wednesday.

The 172 new fatalities include 84 from Maharashtra, 35 from Punjab and 13 from Kerala. Of 1,59,216 deaths, 53,080 were from Maharashtra, 12,564 from Tamil Nadu, 12,407 from Karnataka, 10,948 from Delhi, 10,298 from West Bengal, 8,751 from Uttar Pradesh and 7,186 from Andhra Pradesh.

The Health Ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

In the meantime, the Ministry said that the number of tests conducted in the country for detection of Covid-19 has crossed 23 crore and the cumulative positivity rate was at 4.98 per cent. India’s tests per day per million population is more than 140 and the daily positivity rate is 3.37 per cent as of Thursday, it said, adding the country was fast approaching a milestone of immunising 4 crore people.

A total of 3,71,43,255 Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered through 6,15,267 sessions, according to the provisional report.