With cumulative jabs to 70.27 lakh people, Maharashtra has topped the vaccination tally in India. Meanwhile, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has also announced state government plans to increase the daily vaccination target from 3 lakh to 5-6 lakh if the Centre provides more vaccines.
India recorded 89,129 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the highest single-day spike since September 2020, taking the total tally to 1,23,92,260 on Saturday.
The country has been recording an unabated spike in cases from over three weeks.
Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Haryana are states of "grave concern".
Daily cases the country peaked on September 16, 2020, with 97,894 people testing positive for the virus in a single day.
The active cases have now increased to 6,58,909 comprising 5.32 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate has further dropped to 93.36 per cent.
Meanwhile, the death toll increased to 1,64,110 on Saturday with 714 new fatalities.
The number of people who have recovered from the disease surged to 1,15,69,241, while the case fatality rate stood at 1.32 per cent, the data stated.
A total of 24,69,59,192 samples tested for Covid-19 as of Friday.
Of these, 10,46,605 samples were tested on Friday, said the Indian Council of Medical Research.
The Centre has advised high-burden states and union territories to take stringent measures for containment of the surge.
So far, 7.30 crore doses of the corona vaccine have been administered in the country since the drive began on January 16 after approval for 'Covishield' and 'Covaxin'.
(With inputs from IANS)
