India records 3.32 lakh new Covid-19 cases

India registered the world's highest single-day spike with 3,32,730 fresh Covid-19 new cases, pushing the overall caseload to 1,62,63,695, according to the data provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday morning.

Meanwhile, 2,263 more people succumbed to the infection, taking the nationwide toll to 1,86,920. According to Thursday evening's tally, the maximum number of deaths were reported from Maharashtra at 568, followed by Delhi with 306 daily deaths.

With fresh Covid-19 cases, the country's active caseload stands at 24,28,616, while total recoveries has increased to 1,36,48,159, the Union health ministry said on Friday.

India had crossed the 2-lakh mark in daily cases on April 15 and the 3-lakh mark on Thursday (April 22). The trend shows that the Covid-19 cases in India tripled in just 17 days. India's daily jump in cases of 3,14,835 had surpassed the previous highest one-day rise in the world of 2,97,430 cases posted by the United States in January, a Reuters report said.

Top five states which have registered maximum cases are Maharashtra with 67,013 cases, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 34,254 cases, Kerala with 26,995 cases, Delhi with 26,169 cases and Karnataka with 25,795 cases. 54.15 per cent of the new cases are reported from these five states, with Maharashtra alone responsible for 20.14 per cent of the new cases.

The surge in Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra continues unabated at a time when several hospitals in the state are running out of beds and medical oxygen to treat Covid-19 patients. On Thursday, Maharashtra recorded 67,013 new cases of Covid-19 and 568 deaths.

On Thursday, Delhi logged a record 306 Covid-19 deaths and 26,169 cases with a positivity rate of 36.24 per cent, the highest since the pandemic began a year ago, even as the city hospitals grappled with depleting oxygen supply for the third consecutive day. The city has reported over 1,750 deaths due to the deadly virus in the last 10 days.

Himachal Pradesh reported 1,774 new Covid-19 cases and 18 fatalities on Thursday, pushing the infection tally to 82,876 and the death toll to 1,241, Special Health Secretary Nipun Jindal said, citing official data updated till 7 pm.

With 59 more fatalities, the death toll due to coronavirus rose to 1,956 in Bihar on Thursday, health department bulletin said. A total of 11,489 fresh Covid cases surfaced Thursday taking the toll to 3,65,770 since the outbreak of the pandemic last year in the state, it said.

Haryana on Thursday recorded the biggest single-day jump of 9,742 Covid-19 cases and 55 fatalities that pushed the state's cumulative tally to 3,90,989 and the death toll to 3,583, a health department bulletin said.

Karnataka registered another biggest single-day spike of 25,795 new cases of Covid-19, and 123 related fatalities on Thursday, taking the total number of infections to 12,47,997 and the death toll to 13,885, the Health department said.

Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday recorded 1,965 fresh Covid-19 cases that took the union territory's cumulative tally to 1,54,407 while eight more fatalities pushed the death toll to 2,092, officials said. Of the fresh cases, 1,176 were reported from the Kashmir division and 789 from the Jammu division, they said.

A record single-day spike of 34,379 Covid-19 cases and 195 fatalities pushed Uttar Pradesh's infection tally to 9,76,765 and the death toll due to the disease to 10,541, the state government said on Thursday.

Telangana reported 5,567 fresh Covid-19 cases, pushing the tally to over 3.73 lakh, while the toll rose to 1,899 with 23 more fatalities, the highest ever in a single day.