India sees COVID-19 cases spike, records over 17,000 daily infections
By TIOL News Service
NEW DELHI, MAR 04, 2021: SIX States in India account for over 85 per cent of the 17,407 daily COVID-19 cases reported over the past 24 hours, said the Health Ministry on Thursday. Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Karnataka also continue to report a surge in the daily new cases.
On Thursday, Maharashtra reported the highest daily new cases at 9,855 - also its highest since October 18, when it had recorded 10,259 infections. It is followed by Kerala with 2,765 cases, while Punjab reported 772 new cases.
So far, India has recorded 1,11,56,923 confirmed COVID-19 cases, while the active cases stand at 1,73,413, comprising 1.55 per cent of the total caseload.
Meanwhile, the death toll increased by 89, taking the tally to 1,57,435, and recoveries surged to 1,08,26,075 with 14,041 people getting discharged over the past day. India's recovery rate continues to rise and now stands at 97.03 per cent, while the case fatality rate is 1.41 per cent.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 21,91,78,908 samples had been tested up to March 3 with 7.75 lakh samples tested on Wednesday itself.
The government has also administered more than 1.66 crore vaccine doses, said the Health Ministry, with Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi, President Mr Ram Nath Kovind, Health Minister Mr Harsh Vardhan and Finance Minister Ms Nirmala Sitharaman receiving their first dose over the past three days.
Since the start of the second phase of the vaccine drive, over 10 lakh doses have been administered to those over the age of 60, and 1.43 lakh beneficiaries over 45 with co-morbidities have received their shots.