India on Monday reported 1,61,736 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, even as 97,168 people were discharged and 879 people passed away. While the tally is slightly lower than the all time high record of nearly 1.69 lakh cases that were recorded on Monday morning, it marks a continuing trend of over 1 lakh cases being recorded on a daily basis. Over the last week, the country has been averaging more than 1.3 lakh new cases per day.
Recently, the country has surpassed Brazil to retake the second spot (behind the US) among countries worst affected by the virus. Presently, India has more than 12.64 lakh active cases.
Maharashtra continues to lead the state leaderboard with more than 5.66 lakh active cases as of Tuesday morning, followed by Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh. As cases continue to rise, many states have introduced restrictions such as night curfews, demarcation of containment zones and more. Maharashtra is also reportedly preparing for a complete lockdown. Fear of a lockdown has also prompted migrants in cities such as Mumbai and Delhi to make their way back to their hometowns.
In the meantime, India's vaccination efforts are gaining momentum. A Tika Utsav is presently underway, and on Monday evening, the country approved a third COVID-19 vaccine for emergency usage. While no date has been announced for Russia's Sputnik V becoming available, it is expected by the end of this month, or the beginning of May.
As per an update from the Health Ministry on Tuesday morning, on day three of the 'Tika Utsav', India’s cumulative vaccination coverage has exceeded 10.85 crores, with over 40 lakh doses administered in the last 24 hours.
