New Delhi
The Health Ministry is worried about an ever-increasing spurt of the Covid-19 cases and active caseload in what is seen as the second wave of the dreaded virus.
The Covid-19 cases on Friday jumped to a new high of 23,285 cases in the last 24 hours, the highest in 2021, while the active cases shot up by 8,011, which is also the highest in 2021, and the daily recoveries down to 15,150.
Maharashtra reported 7,067 in 24 hours, pushing the state’s active caseload to 1,07,307, while Kerala registered 34,082 caseload, followed by 34,082 in Kerala, 10,069 in Punjab, 7,820 in Karnataka, 4,344 in Tamil Nadu, 4,094 in Madhya Pradesh, and 2,142 in Rajasthan.
The day’s death toll was 117, with Maharashtra continue to top with 57 deaths, followed by Punjab 18 and Kerala 13. There was no fatality in 19 of the 36 states/UTs.
The national recovery rate has improved to 96.86% of the 1.13 crore detected with the positive symptom, as many as 1.09 crore recovered so far. More than 22.50 crore people have been tested for the coronavirus so far; of them, 7.40 lakh in 24 hours.
The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to postpone Delhi Higher Judicial Service Main Examination-2019, scheduled on March 13-14, till the Covid-19 vaccination drive is complete for lawyers.
A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and AJ Bhambhani said the exam cannot be postponed at the eleventh hour as other candidates who have already arrived for writing the exam would be prejudiced. “We are not going to postpone the exam. Other candidates would suffer,” the bench said.
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-- Telangana to ramp up Covid-19 testing in view of Maharashtra surge
The Punjab government imposed night curfew in 4 more districts and closed all schools amid a rise in coronavirus cases in the state, officials said. In total, the night curfew is imposed from 11 pm to 5 am in 8 districts — Ludhiana, Patiala, Mohali, Fatehgarh Sahib, Jalandhar, Nawanshahr, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur.
The Dept of School Education has declared “preparatory leaves” for all classes in government and private schools, state Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla said.
