India records highest surge of 15,413 COVID cases, tally breaches 4 L-mark

India on Sunday (June 21) breached the four-lakh mark within a week of recording three lakh COVID-19 cases and clocked-in 15,413 new infections in the highest single-day spike for the fourth consecutive day. The death toll reached 13,254 with 306 new fatalities, according to Union Health Ministry data.

The spike coincides with International Yoga Day, on the occasion of which Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to practise ‘pranayama’ (breathing techniques) to build immunity to fight coronavirus.

India took 64 days to cross the 1 lakh-mark from 100 cases, another fortnight to reach the grim milestone of two lakh cases and then in another 10 days it went past the 3-lakh mark.

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The country has been recording single-day spikes for the past four days. The jump of 15,413 cases took India’s case load to 4,10,461. The number of recoveries also continued to surge with 2,27,755 patients cured so far, while there were 1,69,451 active cases, according to the updated official figures at 8 am. One patient has migrated.

“Thus, around 55.48 per cent of the patients have recovered so far,” an official said. The total number of confirmed cases includes foreigners.

India registered over 10,000 cases for the tenth day in a row. The country has witnessed a surge of 2,19,926 infections from June 1 till 21 with Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh among the top five states that have seen a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases. Of the 306 new deaths reported till Sunday morning, 91 were from Maharashtra, 77 from Delhi, 38 from Tamil Nadu, 20 from Gujarat, 19 from Uttar Pradesh, 11 from West Bengal, eight from Karnataka, six from Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab, five from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana, four from Rajasthan, two from Bihar, and one each from Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

India is the fourth worst-hit nation by the pandemic after the US, Brazil and Russia. According to the Johns Hopkins University, which has been compiling COVID-19 data from all over the world, India is at the eighth position in terms of the death toll. Of the total 13,254 deaths, Maharashtra accounted for the highest 5,984 fatalities, followed by Delhi with 2,112 deaths, Gujarat with 1,638, Tamil Nadu with 704, West Bengal with 540, Madhya Pradesh with 501, Uttar Pradesh with 507, Rajasthan with 337 and Telangana with 203 deaths. The COVID-19 death toll reached 149 in Haryana, 132 in Karnataka, 101 in Andhra Pradesh, 98 in Punjab, 81 in Jammu and Kashmir, 52 in Bihar, 27 in Uttarakhand, 21 in Kerala and 12 in Odisha. Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have also registered 11 deaths, Assam nine, Himachal Pradesh eight, Puducherry seven, Chandigarh six, while Meghalaya, Tripura and Ladakh have reported one fatality each, according to the Health Ministry.

More than 70 per cent deaths took place due to comorbidities, the ministry said. Maharashtra has reported the maximum number of cases at 1,28,205, followed by Tamil Nadu at 56,845, Delhi at 56,746, Gujarat at 26,680, Uttar Pradesh at 16,594, Rajasthan at 14,536 and West Bengal at 13,531.

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The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 11,724 in Madhya Pradesh, 10,223 in Haryana, 8,697 in Karnataka, 8,452 in Andhra Pradesh and 7,533 in Bihar. It has risen to 7,072 in Telangana, 5,834 in Jammu and Kashmir, 4,904 in Assam and 4,856 in Odisha. Punjab has reported 3,952 novel coronavirus cases so far, while Kerala has 3,039 cases. A total of 2,301 people have been infected by the virus in Uttarakhand, 2,041 in Chhattisgarh, 1,965 in Jharkhand, 1,186 in Tripura, 754 in Goa, 836 in Ladakh, 777 in Manipur and 656 in Himachal Pradesh. Chandigarh has registered 404 COVID-19 cases, Puducherry has 286 cases, Nagaland has 201, Mizoram has 140, Arunachal Pradesh has 135 and Sikkim has 70. Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu together have reported 68 COVID-19 cases. Andaman and Nicobar Islands has registered 47 infections so far while Meghalaya has recorded 44 cases.

“Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research),” the ministry said, adding 9,127 cases are being reassigned to states. State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it added.

(With inputs from agencies)