Coronavirus India Updates: More than 35,000 deaths have been reported so far.
Highlights
- India's Covid tally has crossed 16 lakh cases after latest spike in cases
- Over 10.58 lakh patients have recovered since beginning of outbreak
- 6.42 lakh samples tested on Thursday, highest single-day figure so far
Here are the top 10 developments on coronavirus cases in India:
It took 183 days for India to cross 16 lakh coronavirus cases. Kerala had reported the country's first COVID-19 patient on January 30. India crossed the one lakh-mark in Covid cases 110 days later.
More than 60 per cent of total cases in the country and over 50 per cent of total deaths have been recorded in July. The massive surge was reported after the government eased one of the world's strictest shutdowns, announced in March to slow the spread of infections. Several states had later reversed the relaxations.
India has tested a total of 1,88,32,970 samples so far. The positivity rate - percentage of patients who have tested positive for coronavirus - stood at 8.57 per cent this morning. The country has a population of about 130 crores and a patient can be tested more than once till he recovers.
India cannot count on herd immunity to stop the coronavirus pandemic given its demography and scale, the Health Ministry said on Thursday, adding that the country will have to rely on a vaccine to fully beat COVID-19.
At 3.6 per cent, India's rate of increase in cases is more than double than the 1.6 per cent in US and significantly higher than Brazil's 2.3 per cent - the only two countries with a higher caseload.
Maharashtra reported its biggest single-day spike in fresh cases on Thursday with 11,000 infections, taking the tally to 4,11,798 cases. The state has logged the highest number of cases in India followed by Tamil Nadu (2,39, 978 cases) and Delhi (1,34, 403 cases).
Karnataka on Thursday reported the biggest single-day jump of 6,128 new cases of COVID-19 and 83 related fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 1,18,632 and the death count to 2,230, the health department said. The southern state is the fifth worst-hit by the outbreak.
Assam too reported the highest single-day jump in fresh infections so far with 2,112 new patients, taking the tally past 38,000.
On Wednesday, the government had released the guidelines for Unlock3, the third phase of lifting of coronavirus-related restrictions across the country. Night curfew has been scrapped altogether and gyms and yoga institutes - outside containment zones- have been allowed to reopen.
Worldwide, over 1.72 crore people have been affected by the pandemic so far; 6.72 lakh have died. The United States - epicenter of the pandemic - has logged over 44 lakh cases so far.