India reports over 12,000 COVID-19 cases in a day

India’s COVID-19 death toll crossed 9,000 on Saturday with fatalities showing a steady rise in the past few days, even as new infections reported from across the country touched another new high.

As many as 12,368 fresh cases were reported, the first time that the single-day count has crossed 12,000.

Saturday’s tally of new cases was the sixth single-day peak in the past eight days. India’s COVID-19 caseload has risen to over 3.21 lakh, just a day after crossing the 3 lakh milestone.

With 310 fatalities reported on Saturday, the country’s death toll rose to 9,195 — the ninth highest number of deaths from the virus in the world. Since India has the world’s fourth  largest COVID-19 caseload, the mortality rate is quite low compared to most of the worst-hit nations.

However, deaths from the coronavirus have seen an uptick in the past 10 days, when 312 people on average have succumbed to the infection every day. That’s more than double the average of 137 daily deaths seen during the month of May.

The last 10 days have accounted for more than a third of all deaths from the virus since the first one on March 12. The surge is also reflected in India’s case fatality rate (the percentage of patients dying from the disease). The CFR, which had been gradually but consistently dropping since May 10, has shown a slight increase since June 12, rising from 2.8% to 2.9%.

The record spike in cases on Saturday was again led by 3,427 new infections reported from Maharashtra, with Mumbai reporting 1,380 cases. With 113 deaths on Saturday, a slight drop from the toll in the past three days, the state has recorded 3,830 deaths in all. Its CFR remains significantly higher than the national average at 3.66%.

Delhi remained a major source of worry for health authorities, as the city reported another record 2,134 new infections, the second straight day when the count has crossed 2,000. With this, the total tally of COVID-19 in Delhi has reached 38,958, third highest in the country after Maharashtra (1,04568) and Tamil Nadu (42,687). In terms of active cases, Delhi is second only to Maharashtra.

Source: Agencies

 

Dhaka/AI