A day after India registered 78,761 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, the biggest single-day spike in the world since the pandemic began, India on Monday saw 78,512 new cases and 971 fatalities taking its COVID-19 tally rose to 36,21,245 and its toll to 64,469.
Monday's figure means India saw its coronavirus cases stay above the 78,000-mark for the second straight day.
India, with 1.4 billion people, now has the fastest-growing daily coronavirus caseload of any country in the world, reporting more than 75,000 new cases for four straight days.
Sunday's figures saw India, just as the government begins easing restrictions to resuscitate the economy, eclipse the United States for the unenviable record of highest-single day rise in cases.
The US set the previous record on 17 July with 77,638 daily infections, according to an AFP tally.
The tw0-day surge came as the government announced the reopening of the subway in New Delhi. It also will move ahead with limited sports and religious events next month.
One of the reasons is testing: India now conducts nearly 1 million tests every day, compared with just 200,000 two months ago.
A significant feature of the country's COVID-19 management, however, is the growing rate of recovered patients.
The recovery rate reached nearly 76.5 percent and rose to 76.62 percent on Monday.
The health ministry credited its strategic policy of “testing aggressively, tracking comprehensively and treating efficiently” in supervised home isolation and hospitals.
But COVID-19 fatalities continue to mount and soon India will likely have the third-largest toll, after the United States and Brazil, even though it has had far fewer deaths than those two countries.
India is now reporting around 1,000 COVID-19 deaths every day.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, a total of 4,23,07,914 samples have been tested so far with 8,46,278 samples being tested on Sunday.
Of the 971 fresh deaths reported, 296 are from Maharashtra, 106 from Karnataka, 94 from Tamil Nadu, 88 from Andhra Pradesh, 67 from Uttar Pradesh, 56 from Punjab, 50 from West Bengal, 29 from Madhya Pradesh, 22 in Delhi, 17 each from Gujarat and Bihar, 13 each in Jharkhand and Rajasthan, 12 each in Haryana and Odisha.
Ten fatalities have been reported from Puducherry, nine each from Jammu and Kashmir and Telangana, seven each from Assam, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Kerala, five each from Goa and Tripura, two each from Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh, one each from Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Himachal Pradesh.
Of the total 64,469 deaths, Maharashtra has reported the maximum at 24,399 followed by 7,231 in Tamil Nadu, 5,589 in Karnataka, 4,426 in Delhi, 3,884 in Andhra Pradesh, 3,423 in Uttar Pradesh, 3,176 in West Bengal, 3,006 in Gujarat and 1404 people have died in Punjab.
So far, 1,374 have died in Madhya Pradesh, 1043 in Rajasthan, 827 in Telangana, 694 in Jammu and Kashmir, 682 in Haryana, 578 in Bihar, 482 in Odisha, 410 in Jharkhand, 296 in Assam, 287 in Kerala, 269 in Chhattisgarh, 257 in Uttarakhand, 221 in Puducherry, 183 in Goa, 103 in Tripura, 52 in Chandigarh, 45 in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 35 in Himachal Pradesh.
Ladakh registered 34 cases, Manipur 28, Meghalaya 10, Nagaland 9, Arunachal Pradesh 7, Sikkim 3 and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu two.
The health ministry stressed that more than 70 percent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.
"Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.
Treat doctors who died on COVID-19 at par with martyrs: IMA
Meanwhile, the Indian Medical Association has written to the prime minister asking that all doctors who have died of COVID-19 be treated at par with martyrs of the armed forces, and their dependents be provided government jobs in accordance with their qualifications.
In a letter to the prime minister, the country''s largest body of doctors said only an "inclusive national solatium" for all doctors who have lost their lives fighting the pandemic would render justice to the sacrifice of their families.
The IMA cited government data and said 87,000 healthcare workers had been infected and 573 of them had lost their lives due to COVID-19. However, the Centre has not officially released these figures.
Noting that the data has raised concerns all across the country, the IMA said its data for doctors alone has registered 307 deaths and a total 2,006 infected. It said 188 of those died are general practitioners who are the first point of contact for people.
'September could be most challenging month'
Even as eight states remain among the worst-hit regions and contribute nearly 73 percent of the total infections, the virus is now spreading fast in the vast hinterlands, with health experts warning that September could be the most challenging month yet.
Early last week, members of a small secluded tribe in the remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands tested positive for the coronavirus.
So far, the biggest contributor to the new surge has been Maharashtra. It alone has accounted for more than 24,000 deaths and nearly 21 percent of all cases.
India’s economy — the fifth largest in the world — has been severely hit by the pandemic. Millions have lost their jobs since the start of the lockdown, with the poor particularly hard hit.
But despite the surging cases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his team have been pushing for a return to normalcy to ease the pain.
The Centre on Saturday said the crowded subway, a lifeline for millions of people in New Delhi, will reopen gradually starting 7 September. Schools, colleges and movie theaters will remain closed until the end of September.
Metro train services would also resume "in a graded manner" in major cities.
The home affairs ministry said gatherings of up to 100 people would be allowed with face masks and social distancing at cultural, entertainment, sports and political events from next month.
Schools remain closed but students can meet teachers on a voluntary basis on school premises if needed, according to the new guidelines.
With inputs from agencies
from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/3gJoZD9
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