Covid-19 numbers continue to shoot up in India with the country adding 43,846 cases in the last 24 hours, the highest daily figure in nearly four months.
States including Punjab, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu are considering re-shutting schools, restricting public gatherings, and employing other virus-fighting tactics like area-wise or district-wise lockdowns.
As for the cases, India has recorded one lakh infections in just three days, the government said on Saturday after 40,953 new infections were reported in a day. On Friday, 39,726 new cases were logged while 35,871 fresh cases were recorded the previous day.
The daily rise in infections today was the highest recorded in 112 days, while the number of fatalities has risen to 1,59,755 with 197 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed. Maharashtra, Punjab, Kerala, Karnataka and Gujarat are the five states that have recorded the highest single-day surge since yesterday, government data shows.
Eight states including Maharashtra and Delhi are reporting a rising trajectory of new infections, the Health ministry said while giving the latest COVID-19 update on Saturday. Kerala, meanwhile, is showing a “consistently declining” trend, it said.
Maharashtra, the worst-hit state, accounts for 62 per cent of daily cases in the country, the government said. The western state on Saturday reported 27,000 daily coronavirus cases for the first time ever. Ninty-two people in the state died because of the illness in the last 24 hours, according to government data.