COVID: Maha, TN see biggest spikes; India's death toll passes 18K mark
The total number of COVID-19 cases in India stood at 6,18,394, as the country witnessed as many as 13,173 fresh infections on Thursday (July 02). The death toll also increased to 18,089, with 241 new fatalities. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka saw the biggest single-day spikes of 6,330, 4,343 and 1,502 cases respectively.
Maharashtra’s tally has risen to 1,86,626, as the state crossed the 6,000 mark for the first time. Also, a record number of 8,018 patients were discharged from hospitals in the state, taking the number of recoveries way past the 1-lakh mark to 1,01,172. While the state has 77,260 active cases, it has also seen 8,178 fatalities.
Mumbai alone witnessed 1,554 new cases on Thursday, raising the tally to 80,262. The death toll also increased to 4,686, with 57 new deaths in the city, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. This was the second consecutive day that the number of new COVID-19 cases went past the 1,500-mark in the financial capital.
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The number of confirmed cases of the disease in Tamil Nadu increased to 98,392, of which 41,050 are active cases. As many as 56,021 people have been cured or discharged from hospitals in the state. The death toll in Tamil Nadu stood at 1,321, with 57 fatalities reported on Thursday.
With 1,502 new cases, Karnataka’s tally too rose to 18,016. While the state has 9,404 active cases, 8,336 have recovered. Of the 1,502 fresh cases reported today, a whopping 889 cases were from Bengaluru urban alone. A total of 6,53,627 samples were tested so far, out of which 16,210 were tested on Thursday alone.
Meanwhile, Delhi recorded 2,373 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the tally in the national capital to 92,175, while the death toll from the disease mounted to 2,864, authorities said. As many as 61 fatalities were recorded in the last 24 hours. On June 23, the national capital had reported the highest single-day spike of 3,947 cases, till date.
The COVID-19 death toll climbed to 699 in West Bengal after 16 more people succumbed to the disease on Thursday. As many as 649 fresh cases pushed the states coronavirus tally to 19,819, a health department bulletin said. The number of active COVID-19 cases in the state stood at 6,083.
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In order to contain the spread of COVID-19, a 10-day complete lockdown has been enforced in Thane and two other civic administration limits adjoining Mumbai city from Thursday, in Navi Mumbai from Friday (July 04). Essential services and medical emergencies are exempted from the lockdown, while intercity buses, autorickshaws and taxis will not be allowed to operate in these civic limits.
As the Delhi government started operationalising the country’s first plasma bank for COVID-19 patients on Thursday, experts have announced the protocol and screening guidelines. The Chief Ministers Office said people aged 18-60 who have fully recovered from COVID-19 and showed no symptoms for 14 days can go for donation.
So, someone weighing less than 50 kg; women who have ever been pregnant, cancer survivors, and those with kidney, heart, lung or liver diseases are not eligible to donate plasma, the CMO said. “If a donor has given only 250 ml of plasma once, he or she can donate another 250 ml of it, after a few days,” a doctor said.
(With inputs from agencies)
