Covid-19: India records single-day spike of 10,956 cases, surpasses UK to become fourth worst-hit nation

The nationwide COVID-19 tally neared the 3-lakh mark on Friday, with a record number of over 10,000 new cases getting detected across states and union territories. The government stressed on the need for stringent containment measures to check the pandemic, with the last one lakh cases emerging in just ten days.

The Centre has asked states and UTs to pay special attention to emerging epicentres of cases and to focus on containment, testing and tracing, upgrading health infrastructure, clinical management and community engagement for effective management of COVID-19, the Union Health Ministry said.

Sources said Prime Minister Narendra Modi may hold a fresh round of consultation with Chief Ministers next week in the backdrop of the rising number of cases in the country.

While the first case of the novel coronavirus infection was detected in India on January 30, it took more than 100 days to reach the one-lakh mark on May 18, but the 2-lakh mark was breached only about a fortnight later on June 2.

India on Thursday went past the United Kingdom in terms of coronavirus cases to become the fourth worst-hit country, according to the Worldometer.

India is the fourth worst-hit nation by the COVID-pandemic 19 after the US, Brazil and Russia. While the US has reported more than 20 lakh confirmed cases so far, the tally for Brazil is over 8 lakh and for Russia more than 5 lakh.

Globally, more than 4 lakh have lost their lives and over 75 lakh have tested positive for COVID-19 since its emergence in China last December. However, nearly 36 lakh have recovered too.

In India, more than 1.47 lakh COVID-19 patients have recovered so far, while there are nearly 1.42 lakh active cases at present, according to the health ministry.

In its morning 8am updates, the ministry said the total number of confirmed cases has reached 2,978,535 and the death toll has mounted to 8,498 after record numbers of 10,956 cases and 396 fatalities were recorded in the last 24 hours.

However, a PTI tally of figures announced by states and UTs till 9.40 pm showed the overall case count has risen to 2,98,382  and the toll to 8,743.

It also showed a higher number of recoveries at more than 1.52 lakh.

The ministry said the doubling time of coronavirus cases in India has improved to 17.4 days, from 3.4 days when the nationwide lockdown was imposed on March 25. A phased withdrawal of all lockdown restrictions began on June 1, except for in containment zones.

The Delhi High Court said the central government’s decision of phased reopening of lockdown was not taken in haste and it was done to ensure a proper balance between containing the pandemic and making it certain that people are not forced to starvation.

The Supreme Court, in the meantime, said the situation was “grim” at hospitals in Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Gujarat, as it took note of reports about “horrific scenes” at the national capital’s COVID-19 dedicated LNJP hospital.

The court said the duty of the Delhi government does not end by informing citizens that it has arranged 5,814 beds in government hospitals and 9,535 beds in private hospitals. It said the situation in Delhi is “horrendous, horrific and pathetic”.

The Delhi High Court also directed the North Delhi Municipal Corporation to pay by June 19 the salary for March to resident doctors in its six hospitals.

Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal, in the meantime, constituted a high-level expert committee, which includes Indian Council of Medical Research Director-General Balram Bhargava, to suggest effective steps to deal with the outbreak in the city.

Maharashtra, the worst-hit state, saw its own tally cross the 1-lakh mark after 3,493 new cases were reported to take its total to 1,01,141, while its death toll rose to 3,717.

The state also reported a large number of recoveries. As many as 126 cancer patients, who had tested COVID-19 positive, have also recovered in Mumbai itself.

In Tamil Nadu, another badly hit state, the tally saw a record one-day jump of 1,982 cases to cross the 40,000-mark, while the toll reached 367.

Gujarat reported 495 new cases and 31 more fatalities, taking its case count to 22,562 and the death toll to 1,416.

Uttar Pradesh reported 20 more COVID-19 deaths and 528 fresh cases, the biggest single-day spike so far for the state. This took the state’s death toll to 365 and the case count to 12,616. However, more than 7,600 people have recovered already, giving a recovery rate of over 60 per cent.

West Bengal breached the 10,000-mark with its highest single-day spike of 476 cases, while nine more fatalities were reported to take the toll to 451.