First time since November, daily cases surge past 50,000 in 24 hours

With several states reporting major surges in daily new cases, India’s total active caseload is now 3.95 lakh, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday. A total of 53,476 fresh cases were reported in the previous 24 hours, the Ministry said.

Official data show prominent second waves of infection in six states — Maharashtra, Punjab, Kerala, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, and Gujarat — adding up to 80.63 percent of new cases reported in the previous 24 hours.

Most districts with the largest numbers of active cases in the country are from Maharastra: Pune (49,036), Nagpur (34,016), Mumbai (29,395), Thane (24,567), Aurangabad (16,175), Nanded (11,038), Jalgaon (6,072), and Akola (6,179).

The daily case has crossed 50,000 after 141 days. On November 5 last year, 50,210 fresh cases were recorded in the previous 24 hours, according to Health Ministry data. Daily new cases dropped to 47,638 the next day.

Health Ministry data on Thursday showed that besides the six states of greatest concern, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh were reporting significant rise in daily new cases. “Maharashtra continues to report the highest daily new cases at 31,855 (59.57%). It is followed by Punjab with 2,613 while Kerala reported 2,456 new cases,” the Ministry said.

According to the Health Ministry, the six states account for 78.46 per cent of the daily deaths. “Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (95). Punjab followed with 39 daily deaths and Chhattisgarh reported 29 deaths in the last 24 hours,” the Ministry said.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, cumulative Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 5.46 Crore. “These include 80,18,757 Health Care Workers who have taken the 1st dose and 50,92,757 HCWs who have taken the 2nd dose, 85,53,228 Frontline Line Workers (1st dose), 33,19,005 FLWs (2nd dose), 2,42,50,649 beneficiaries more than 60 years old and 54,31,424 beneficiaries aged 45 and above with specific co-morbidities,” the Ministry said.