After rising for four days in a row, India’s daily case count dropped marginally on Saturday, even as three states reported their highest single-day counts so far and the virus continued to rise in several other states.
India reported 45,397 new cases on Saturday, slightly down from the previous day’s count of 46,328, according to data collected from state governments. The number of deaths for the day, at 500, had also fallen from the numbers of the previous three days, all above 560. With this, the total number of cases in the country increased to 90.95,398 while the total number was stood at 1.33,211.
Rajasthan, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh recorded their highest daily numbers of cases, with the count surpassing 3,000 in Rajasthan for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic. The state recorded 3,007 infections, while Gujarat recorded 1,515 cases. Himachal Pradesh was also in the midst of a huge Covid-19 surge with 915 cases reported in the mountainous state in the past 24 hours.
Cases also increased in Madhya Pradesh, with the state reporting 1,700 new infections, the highest daily count since October 14. In Chhattisgarh, 2,284 new cases were recorded, the highest in the state since Oct. 23. Haryana reported 2,666 cases, a slight drop from Friday’s record of 3,104. Active cases increased by nearly 500 on Saturday. This was only the second time since October 1 that the count saw a net increase in one day.
In Maharashtra, a slight increase in the daily number of Covid-19 cases was evident across the state, as well as in the capital Mumbai, for the fourth day in a row. A total of 5,760 cases and 62 deaths were reported Saturday, bringing the state’s total number of cases to 17,74,455 and deaths to 46,573. Deaths fell by 60% from 155 on Friday to 62. The drop in deaths was due to delays in loading data from many districts, senior officials said. While the average number of cases in Mumbai was between 500 and 800 last week, the cases have skyrocketed past 1,000 in the past two days.
Tamil Nadu was among the majority of states where the pandemic continues to decline. Active cases fell to 12,916 on Saturday when the state established three committees to oversee preparations for the Covid-19 vaccination. The state reported 1,663 new cases and 18 deaths. Andhra Pradesh, meanwhile, reported 1,160 new Covid-19 cases and seven deaths.
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