India recorded more than 1.5 lakh fresh Covid-19 infections on Saturday, becoming the second country after the US to register the grim milestone on the back of a sharp uptick in cases from the Hindi heartland, particularly Chhattisgarh, UP and Bihar.
There were 1,52,545 new cases recorded across the country, up more than 5% from Friday's count of 1.45 lakh. The 1.5 lakh count was crossed just six days after daily cases went past the 1-lakh mark, a 50% rise in less than a week. The peak count during the first wave of infections was 98,795, recorded on September 17, as per TOI’s corona database.
Deaths also climbed to 839 on Saturday, the highest daily toll since October 16 last year. Although deaths have been rising steadily during the second wave, the toll continues to be low compared with the case fatality rates seen during the peak of the first wave in the country. Active cases crossed 1.1 million on Saturday with a daily addition of over 60,000 for the fourth day in a row.
Deaths also climbed to 839 on Saturday, the highest daily toll since October 16 last year. Although deaths have been rising steadily during the second wave, the toll continues to be low compared with the case fatality rates seen during the peak of the first wave in the country.
Active cases crossed 1.1 million on Saturday, with a daily addition of over 60,000 for the fourth day in a row.
While Maharashtra has been the worst hit by the second Covid wave and continues to lead the count of daily cases by a wide margin, the rest of India has seen a much sharper surge in infections in the past two weeks, particularly after Holi.
Maharashtra’s share in the daily national case count has dropped from the peak of 65% on March 18 to 36.4% on April 9. Maharashtra on Saturday reported 55,411 fresh cases and 309 deaths. Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh reported 14,098 new infections, up from 11,447 on the previous day, while deaths climbed to 123 from 91 on Friday.
Uttar Pradesh saw a similar surge as detected infections rose to 12,787, from 9,695 on the earlier day, while 48 deaths were recorded.
Bihar logged 3,469 cases, the highest since August 15. Among other states that recorded their highest ever daily counts were Gujarat (5,011) Madhya Pradesh (4,986) and Rajasthan (4,401).