Forthe second consecutive day, India's single-day rise of new Covid-19 cases onSunday breached the country's highest tally of 2021 so far, while fatalitiescontinue to increase at a worrisome rate.
Itrecorded 25,320 cases, an increase of 438 cases from Saturday. There were 161deaths in the last 24 hours, a hike of 21 fatalities from the previous day, thedata shared by the Union Health Ministry showed.
Thecumulative tally of the cases has risen to 1,13,59,048 while the death toll hasreached 1,58,607 in India.
However,67 per cent of the country's cases were recorded from two states only.Maharashtra has reported 15,602 cases in the last 24 hours whereas Punjabrecorded its highest single-day tally of this year with 1,515 new cases ofCovid-19.
"Weused to record this much infections in October-November when the first wave wason decline in the country," Dr. Rajesh Bhaskar, Nodal officer for Covid-19in Punjab told.
Theinfection level in the country is back to last year's December as it has soaredto 1.85 from 1.55 per cent in a short interval. In the last four days, thenumber of fatalities has also spiked, which earlier was hovering under 100.
Thecountry on Saturday reported 24,882 new cases and 140 deaths. On Friday, itreported 22,885 Covid cases and 117 fatalities.
Therise in the number of Covid cases, which had so far appeared confined toMaharashtra and Punjab, is now beginning to show up in several other states.
States/UTssuch as Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh have had verysimilar growth trajectories in the recent weeks.
Asthe number of Covid-19 cases is rising across the country, the Centre hassounded a word of caution for states which are not yet seeing a surge but areat the threshold.
NitiAayog (health) member V.K. Paul last week said the situation of Maharashtra isworrying as part of the state is going back to strict lockdown. However, heshared his concerns for other states as well.
"Wouldlike to caution Delhi-NCR, Gurugram, part of Gautam Buddha Nagar and Ghaziabadto some extent. These areas are seeing a slight rise in the number ofcases," Paul had said.
Sofar, 2,97,38,409 doses of corona vaccine have been administered in the countrysince the drive began on January 16 after approval for 'Covishield' and'Covaxin'.