COVID-19: June worst-hit month as India recorded nearly 4 lakh cases
India reported a majority of cases — close to four lakh — in June to make it the worst month for the country prompting some states to go for varying degrees of lockdown.
India reported a majority of cases — close to four lakh — in June to make it the worst month for the country prompting some states to go for varying degrees of lockdown.
On Wednesday (July 1), the country recorded the highest single-day jump of 507 COVID-19 deaths, of which Maharashtra, Delhi, and Tamil Nadu have accounted for over 70 per cent of total 17,400 coronavirus deaths, according to the Union Health Ministry data.
The data updated at 8 am on Wednesday also showed that 18,653 new infections were reported in 24 hours taking the tally to 5,85,493. At the same time, the recovery rate was also steadily improving to touch nearly 60 per cent.
India tally
It is for the fifth consecutive day that coronavirus cases have increased by more than 18,000. The country has seen a surge of 3,94,958 infections or nearly 68 per cent of the total in June, according to an analysis of the ministry data.
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The number of active cases stands at 2,20,114, while 3,47,978 people have recovered, and one patient has migrated, the data showed, indicating that around 59.43 per cent of patients have recovered so far.
India reported its first case of coronavirus on January 30 from Kerala when a student who had returned from Wuhan, China tested positive. It is now the fourth worst-affected country in terms of cases after the US, Brazil and Russia.
Health officials in Karnataka reported the country’s first COVID-19 death on March 12 after samples of a 76-year-old man, who was a suspected coronavirus patient and passed away two days earlier, tested positive for the disease.
From the states
In a bid to halt the rapid surge in new infections, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Manipur and Nagaland are among the states which have extended the lockdown beyond June 30 for varying periods up to July 31 without any more relaxations.
Of the total 17,400 deaths reported so far, Maharashtra accounted for the highest 7,855 fatalities followed by with number of deaths in brackets Delhi(2,742), Gujarat (1,846), Tamil Nadu (1,201), Uttar Pradesh (697), West Bengal (668), Madhya Pradesh (572), Rajasthan (413) and Telangana (260).
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The other states reporting more than 100 deaths are Karnataka(246), Haryana(236), Andhra Pradesh(187), Punjab(144) and Jammu and Kashmir(101).
Maharashtra has also reported the highest number of cases at 1,74,761 followed by Tamil Nadu at 90,167, Delhi at 87,360, Gujarat at 32,557, Uttar Pradesh at 23,492, West Bengal at 18,559 and Rajasthan at 18,014, according to the Health Ministry data.
The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 16,339 in Telangana, 15,242 in Karnataka, 14,595 in Andhra Pradesh, 14,548 in Haryana, and 13,593 in Madhya Pradesh. Bihar with 10,043 cases is the other state which has crossed the 10,000 mark.
Maharashtra
Maharashtra’s COVID-19 tally rose to 1,80,298 on Wednesday with the addition of 5,537 cases, the state health department said.
The death toll due to the virus reached 8,053 with 198 more people succumbing to the infection, it said.
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As many as 2,243 patients were discharged post recovery on Wednesday, which took the number of recovered persons to 93,154 in the state, it added.
So far, 9,92,723 people have been tested across the state and the number of active cases is 79,091, the health department said in a statement.
Mumbai police issued prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC in the city, restricting movement of people in public places, and said the measure was taken to check the rising COVID-19 cases.
Delhi
Delhi recorded 2,442 fresh COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the tally in the city over the 89,000-mark, while the death toll from the disease mounted to 2,803, authorities said.
On June 23, the national capital had reported the highest single-day spike of 3,947 cases.
Recently, Delhi had eclipsed Mumbai as the city worst-hit by the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
Sixty-one fatalities have been recorded in the last 24 hours, the Delhi health department bulletin said on Wednesday.
The death toll from COVID-19 in Delhi stood at 2,742 on Tuesday. The bulletin said the death toll from the coronavirus infection has risen to 2,803, and the total number of cases mounted to 89,802.
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu inched towards the grim milestone of one lakh infections recording 3,882 coronavirus cases and 63 deaths on Wednesday while the total samples tested so far crossed the 12 lakh mark, the government said.
The total cases stood at 94,049 while the toll, which has been rising significantly in the past several days, touched 1,264. Of the fresh cases, the state capital’s share was 2,182 and nearby districts of Chengelpet and Tiruvallur recorded 226 and 147 cases respectively, a health department bulletin said.
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The fresh cases saw a marginal dip compared to nearly 4,000 cases in the past three days. Chennai, which has remained the largest hotspot in the state, saw its tally mounting to 60,533 as the intense lockdown entered the 13th day, having been extended till July 5 from Wednesday.
There were 39,856 active cases in the state after discharge of 2,852 patients from various hospitals today. Cumulatively, a total of 52,926 people have recovered so far. As many as 31,521 samples were tested on Wednesday, taking the aggregate to 12,02,204, the bulletin said.
Gujarat
Gujarat reported its highest single-day spike yet of 675 coronavirus cases on Wednesday, taking the number of cases in the state to 33,318, the health department said.
With 21 COVID-19 patients succumbing during the day, the death toll due to the pandemic in the state rose to 1,869, it said.
Around 368 patients were discharged from hospitals, taking the number of recovered coronavirus patients in Gujarat to 24,038. The state now has 7,411 active cases with 63 patients on ventilator, the health department said in its daily release.
Gujarat COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 33,318, new cases 675, total deaths 1,869, discharged 24,038, active cases 7,411 and people tested so far 3,80,640.
Karnataka
Karnataka on Wednesday recorded the biggest single day spike of 1,272 new COVID-19 cases and seven related deaths, taking the total number of infections to 16,514 and the death toll to 253, the health department said.
The day also saw 145 patients getting discharged after recovery. Out of 1,272 fresh cases reported on Wednesday, a whopping 735 cases were from Bengaluru urban alone.
A total of 6,37,417 samples were tested so far, out of which 16,670 were tested on Wednesday alone.
According to the bulletin, 6,04,822 samples have so far been reported as negative, and out of them 15,185 were reported negative today.
West Bengal
West Bengal reported 15 more COVID-19 fatalities on Wednesday, pushing the death toll due to the contagion to 683, even as the infection tally rose to 19,170 with 611 fresh cases, the health department said.
Seven deaths were registered in Kolkata, four in North 24 Parganas, two in Howrah and one each in Jalpaiguri and South 24 Parganas districts, it said in a bulletin.
The state has 5,959 active COVID-19 cases. Since Tuesday, at least 398 people have recovered from the disease, while 9,558 samples were tested, the bulletin added.
Madhya Pradesh
The COVID-19 case count in Madhya Pradesh climbed to 13,861 on Wednesday with addition of 268 new cases, including 73 from Morena, during the last 24 hours, officials said.
With 9 more people succumbing to the viral infection, the death toll in the state has risen to 581, they said.
A total of 260 persons were discharged from hospitals in the day, taking the number of the recovered cases to 10,655.
While COVID-19 cases have been reported from all 52 districts, only four of them did not have any active cases as on Wednesday, as per the bulletin.
The state has 1,039 active containment zones.
Coronavirus figures in MP are as follows: Total cases 13,861, active cases 2,625, new cases 268, death toll 581, recovered 10,655, total number of tested people 3,72,811.
Kerala
The COVID-19 tally in Kerala crossed the 4,500 mark on Wednesday with 151 people testing positive as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan cautioned that the state may have to face “more challenges” in the coming days.
“The positive cases are rising in the state. But there is some relief as the death toll and cases due to contact has not gone up drastically. But in the coming days we may have to face more challenges,” Vijayan told reporters.
So far, 2,435 people have recovered from the infection, including 131 discharged today, while active cases are 2,132. Thirteen people have been infected through contact.
The death toll in the state climbed to 25 with the samples of a man from Nadakavu who had committed suicide on June 27 testing positive on Wednesday.
There are 124 hotspots in the state as of today and 1. 83 lakh people are under observation.
Andhra Pradesh
Addition of 657 fresh cases pushed the Covid-19 tally in Andhra Pradesh to 15,252 on Wednesday.
In the last 24 hours, six coronavirus deaths were reported, taking the overall toll in the state to 193, the latest bulletin said.
The bulletin said 342 COVID-19 patients recovered in the last 24 hours and were discharged from hospitals. With this, the total number of those recovered stood at 6,988, leaving 8,071 active cases.
On Wednesday, the state also crossed the nine-lakh mark in the number of coronavirus sample tests, aggregating 9.18 lakh till date. The state boasted of carrying out 17,199 tests per million population, ahead of Tamil Nadu’s 15,204.
According to a government data, the cumulative 15,252 coronavirus cases in AP included 12,813 locals, 2,036 from other states and 403 foreign returnees.
(With inputs from agencies)