India sees surge in daily COVID cases, death toll as states ease restrictions
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With several states easing Covid-19 restrictions, India registered an increase of over 9,000 Covid-19 cases in daily cases on Wednesday. According to the Health Ministry data updated at 8 am, the country 43,733 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, an increase of 9,003 cases from Tuesday when 34,703 new cases were recorded.
The death toll climbed to 4,04,211 with 930 daily fatalities recorded in the past 24 hours while 553 succumbed to the viral diseas on Tuesday.
The active cases have further declined to 4,59,920 and comprise 1.50 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 97.18 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.
Also, 19,07,216 tests were conducted on Tuesday taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 42,33,32,097.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.29 per cent . It has been less than three per cent for 16 consecutive days, the ministry said, adding the weekly positivity rate has declined to 2.39 per cent.
The top five states which registered maximum cases are Kerala with 14,373 cases, followed by Maharashtra with 8,418 cases, Tamil Nadu with 3,479 cases, Karnataka with 3,104 cases and Andhra Pradesh with 3,042 cases.
With over 10 per cent positivity rate in as many as 45 districts, the pandemic has become a cause of concern in the Northeast states. The Union Health Ministry Tuesday said 73 districts in India reported a positivity rate of over 10 per cent for the June 29-July 5 week. Sixty-one per cent of these high-positivity districts are from the Northeast states of Arunachal (Pradesh (18), Manipur (9), Meghalaya (6), Tripura (4), Sikkim (4), Nagaland (3), and Mizoram (1). In the region, Manipur (5,974) has the highest active cases followed by Meghalaya (4,354), Tripura (3,962), Mizoram (3,730), Sikkim (1,869) and Nagaland (1192).
Meanwhile, days after sending coronavirus disease (Covid-19) control teams to northeast India, the central government is ready to review the ground situation regarding the pandemic management in the region. The Union ministry of home affairs have called a virtual meeting on Wednesday, according to officials familiar with the development, where home secretary Ajay Bhalla will be discussing the Covid-19 situation with officials from Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, and Manipur.
