The country recorded more than 2.6 lakh of new cases in the week (March 15-21), compared with 1.55 lakh last week, making it the worst increase in the pandemic to date. The previous steepest weekly increase was 34% recorded between July 20 and 26, when cases were about 80,000 more than the previous week.
On Sunday, India added 47,047 new cases, the highest daily count in 130 days since Nov. 11. Maharashtra, amid its worst spread of Covid-19, recorded its highest count of 30,535 fresh infections.
The daily death toll surpassed 200 for the first time since January 13, with 213 deaths recorded in the last 24 hours, the highest in 72 days since January 8. Only Maharashtra recorded 99 deaths and Punjab 44, followed by Kerala (13), Chhattisgarh. (10) and Tamil Nadu (nine).
Maharashtra recorded 1,65,269 of the 2,60,518 cases reported in the country this week, according to the TOI database compiled daily by state governments. Maharashtra recorded more cases for the week than for the entire month of February, when the state recorded 1,28,671 infections. India’s cases for the week were nearly 75% of the February count, underscoring the sharp rise in the pandemic in recent days. Mumbai on Sunday reported its highest case count in a single day at 3,779.
The spike continued in several other states on Sunday. Punjab recorded 2,669 new cases, its highest single-day count since Sept. 19 and close to the state’s highest count of 2,896 on Sept. 17.
Gujarat recorded 1,580 new cases, its highest level since November 28, while Madhya’s count of 1,322 in Pradesh was the highest in the state since December 8. The count in Tamil Nadu rose to 1,289, the highest since December 14, and Delhi added the highest number (823) since Christmas Eve. Other states with a high number of cases were Kerala (1,875), Karnataka (1,715), Chhattisgarh (1,000), Uttar Pradesh (496), Rajasthan (476) and others.
With more than 9,000 infections reported over the past week, Karnataka’s weekly count of fresh Covid-19 cases nearly doubled from the previous week. Gujarat recorded an 82% increase in seven days, higher than the Covid-19 rise in the post-Diwali period.
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