On Thursday, the active COVID-19 cases in India have crossed 4 lakhs by making the fastest 1-lakh upsurge in the active case count since the start of the pandemic.

India reported 59,117 new cases on Thursday, which is the highest single-day count in 159 days. Maharashtra has hit another high of 35,952 new coronavirus infections in a single day. The death toll in India was 255 on Thursday.

The active cases in the country have increased by more than 52,000 in the last two days alone, which included a single-day highest rise of more than 26,400 on Wednesday. The fastest rise of 1 lakh cases before was the increase from 9 lakhs active cases to 10 lakhs in 6 days during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in mid-September 2020.

India is in the middle of its highest-ever increase in COVID-19 cases. The increase during the first wave of the pandemic had taken approximately double the time — 28 days for the average to increase from 18,280 cases on 29th June last year to 46,760 cases on 27th July. Last year, India was recording more deaths than at the present situation.

The daily deaths count has remained higher above 400 during the 28-day period as it touched a high of 608 deaths. The death count reached a high of 276 on Tuesday. India’s total case count of 59,078 cases was the highest in more than five months since 17th October and a sharp upsurge from Wednesdays count of 53,395 cases.

The increase was mainly contributed by Maharashtra, as the daily cases grew from 31,855 on the prior day to 35,952 cases. Mumbai recorded 5,505 new cases on Thursday, which is the highest so far. The state reported 111 deaths.

Besides Maharashtra, at least 17 states reported their highest daily case count on Thursday since January. Gujarat reported 1,961 new cases and Punjab recorded 2,700 cases, the highest since 18th September. Karnataka recorded 2,523 new cases, while Chhattisgarh’s reported 2,419 new cases. Other states that observed an increase on Thursday are Madhya Pradesh (1,885 cases), Tamil Nadu (1,779 cases), Delhi (1,515 cases), Haryana (1,053 cases).

Source: ET Healthworld