India’s COVID-19 tally crosses 80 lakh with spike of nearly 50,000 cases

The number of COVID-19 cases in India has gone past the 80-lakh mark, data released by the Union health ministry on Thursday morning showed.

In the 24 hours ended at 8am on Thursday, India recorded a total of 49,881 new COVID-19 cases. The spike took the total number of COVID-19 cases in India to 80,40,203. India has the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world. Only the US, which has recorded 9,120,751 cases as of Thursday morning, has more COVID-19 cases.

In the same 24-hour period, India reported 517 COVID-19 fatalities, taking its total death toll to 1,20, 527.The total number of active COVID-19 cases in India as of Thursday morning stood at 6,03,687.

The rate of spread of COVID-19 in India had slowed in recent weeks. It took 18 days for the COVID-19 tally to go from 70 lakh to 80 lakh.

While the rate of COVID-19 spread has declined in many parts of the country, states like Delhi and Kerala continue to battle high numbers.

On Wednesday, Delhi recorded its first single-day spike of over 5,000 cases, recording 5,673 new COVID-19 cases. This took the total number of cases in the National Capital to over 3.7 lakh.

The active COVID-19 cases in Delhi on Wednesday rose to 29,378 from 27,873 the previous day. Kerala recorded 8,790 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, taking its total tally to 4,11,464 cases.