India records its highest 1-day Covid deaths

India recorded more than 4,000 new Covid-19 related deaths for the first time on a single day, with 4,197 fresh fatalities on Friday (May 7).

The country also recorded 4,01,228 new Covid-19 cases on May 7. India has so far reported a total of 2,18,86,611 cases and 2,38,265 deaths.

Maharashtra reported 54,022 infections, followed by Karnataka (48,781), and Kerala (38,460). Maharashtra also recorded 898 casualties, followed by Karnataka (592) and U.P. (372).

The figures do not include cases and deaths from Ladakh. The data, last updated at 12.22 a.m. on May 8, are sourced from covid19india.org, an independent aggregator of daily figures.

About 24.59 lakh daily vaccine doses were administered in the country in the 24 hours ending 7 a.m. on May 7, about 4.4 lakh doses higher than what was recorded in the previous 24 hours. Also, it is 2.35 lakh doses higher than what was recorded in the same period, one week ago.

However, the number of daily doses has been on a declining trend since mid-April. The seven-day average of daily doses administered by May 6 stood at 18.18 lakh, significantly lower than the 31.31 lakh recorded a month ago.

Nearly 18.26 lakh tests were conducted on May 6 (the results for which were made available on May 7), about 1 lakh lower than the previous day.

As of May 7, India’s test positivity rate (cases/tests) is about 22.7%, which means that about one in five tests is turning positive.

According to the Health Ministry, positivity has exceeded 15% in 24 States, is between 5% and 15% in nine States, and less than 5% in three States.

Goa recorded the highest positivity rate at 48.5% followed by Haryana at 36.1%, and Puducherry at 34.9%.

Arunachal Pradesh recorded the least positivity at 15.4%, followed by Manipur at 15.8% and Jharkhand at 16.1%._The Hindu