New cases cross 3 lakh for 6th straight day

NEW DELHI: If last week’s deaths are giving a glimpse of what lies ahead, then India is staring at the gloomiest phase of the Covid crisis.
April so far is the deadliest month since the beginning of the pandemic and the last seven days accounted for half of the deaths reported in the month. Despite lower testing in the weekend, Monday was the sixth day in a row when India’s Covid count exceeded 3 lakh (3.2 lakh on Monday) and deaths crossed the 2,000 mark for the seventh consecutive day.
With 2,766 mortalities on Monday, the month has claimed 34,595 lives so far of which 17,333 came in the last 7 days. The death toll for this month which still has a week to go is higher than 33,230 deaths reported in September 2020 – the month that previously held the record of highest Covid fatalities.
In March 2021, India saw 5,656 Covid deaths which increased by six times in April. Previously 33,230 deaths in September 2021 came after 28,954 deaths being reported for August while July had accounted for 18,676 deaths.
India’s death count for April 2021 is the world’s second highest after Brazil that reported over 75,000 deaths in the month.
The third highest was reported by the US where 21,489 people have so far died in April. Because of lower testing on weekends, Maharashtra saw a decline in fresh cases. Compared to 66,191 cases reported yesterday, the state reported 48,700 cases in the past 24 hours.
The list of worst-hit states remained identical with minor changes as Rajasthan, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, MP, Bihar and Haryana all reported between 10,000 to 20,000 cases on Monday. Maharashtra also reported the highest deaths on Monday at 524.