The state of Maharashtra, which has been battling the worst coronavirus outbreak among all Indian states, on Saturday registered a new all-time high in daily cases. According to state health officials, the state recorded 27,126 new COVID-19 cases, the highest one-day rise since the outbreak of the pandemic last year.

The previous highest one-day figure was 25,833, reported on Thursday.

Among those who tested positive on Saturday, included Maharashtra minister and son of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Aaditya.

The unrelenting spurt prompted district administrations in worst-hit cities to double down with curbs and a renewed push to vaccination campaigns. The Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation, for example, decided to conduct random and mandatory testing in all crowded places such as malls and markets, stating that those who refuse to undergo tests will be booked under the Epidemic Act. The Nagpur administration has decided to extend a near-total lockdown, which was already in place, till 31 March.

Punjab reported 2,587 cases on Saturday, followed by Kerala (2,078 cases and 15 deaths), Karnataka (1,798 new cases and 7 deaths) and Gujarat which reported 1,565 new cases, six deaths.

Madhya Pradesh saw 1,308 COVID-19 cases, and two while Tamil Nadu added 1,243 fresh coronavirus cases and eight fatalities.

The National Capital Delhi also recorded its highest spike this year with more than 800 fresh cases in 24 hours while the neighbouring state Haryana reported 821 new COVID cases and three deaths.

These figures are yet to be accounted for in the national tally.

As per the data revealed by the Union health ministry at 8 am on Saturday, overall, the country recorded 40,953 new infections in a span of 24 hours, the highest single-day rise in 111 days, taking the nationwide COVID-19 tally to 1,15,55,284.

With this, India has registered over one lakh cases in just three days.

On 29 November, a total of 41,810 new infections were recorded in a span of 24 hours. 

The rising trajectory of the pandemic, which was once showing a waning trend around two months ago, is due to the outbreak in three major states where 76.22 percent of India’s total active caseload is centred. But in total, at least eight states are showing a rising graph of coronavirus infections.

BMC mandates random testing in Mumbai, lockdown in Nagpur

With a spurt in coronavirus cases in the city, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has decided to carry out over 47,000 rapid antigen tests at public places every day. Mumbai has added more than 37,000 new cases in the span of one month. It recorded the highest one-day rise in cases earlier this week.

In a circular issued on Friday, the civic body stated that rapid antigen tests will be carried out for free, except those at shopping malls. The tests conducted at shopping malls will be chargeable. The tests will be mandatory for those selected, and those who refuse will have to face action under the Epidemic Act, 1897, the circular stated.

“It is a bitter pill we have to swallow now to check the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the city. We appeal to citizens to comply and help carry out the rapid antigen tests,” a civic official said.

As per the circular, BMC officials have been given the target of carrying out 47,800 tests daily at places such as railway stations, bus depots, food joints, markets, tourist spots and government offices. People will be chosen randomly for testing. Even if a person has already undergone testing, the civic body will insist on retesting, as detection of the infection is more important, the BMC official said.

Mumbai’s COVID-19 tally increased to 3,58,896 while seven deaths took the fatality count in the country’s financial capital to 11,576. Mumbai division reported 5,697 new cases and 15 deaths, taking the cumulative caseload to 7,88,013 and death toll to 20,043.

However, more trouble appeared to be brewing in congested Dharavi, the biggest slum in Mumbai. Civic officials told PTI that the slum has reported 272 cases so far in the month of March as against the entire February’s infection count of 168, a rise of 62 per cent.

Pune reported over 5,000 cases on Saturday with 5,473 testing positive for the virus and 27 succumbing to it. The recoveries stood at 1,094.

Meanwhile, the Nagpur administration decided to continue restrictions that were imposed on 15 March till 31 March with some partial relaxations. Restaurants and eateries can operate till 7 pm while shops can remain open till 4 pm, and all offices — private and government — can function with 25 percent staff.  Schools and colleges will be allowed to carry on online classes but can summon only 25 percent of teaching staff for holding such classes. On Saturday the district registered 3,679 new coronavirus cases and 29 deaths. There were 1,594 recoveries.

Nashik recorded 2,383 new COVID-19 cases and eight deaths on Saturday.

Maharashtra’s COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases: 24,49,147, new cases: 27,126, death toll: 53,300, discharged: 22,03,553, active cases: 1,91,006, people tested so far: 1,82,18,001.

Eight states in India show upward trajectory, over 76% cases concentrated in just three

Besides Maharashtra, seven other states including its neighbours Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh as well as Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Delhi and Haryana are reporting a rising trajectory of new COVID-19 cases as India recorded one lakh infections in just three days including the latest spike of over 40,000 cases in the biggest daily increase in nearly four months.

The Union Health ministry while giving the latest COVID-19 update on Saturday said that Kerala is showing a “consistently declining” trend.

As authorities sounded an alarm over the fresh surge in the cases, AIIMS director Randeep Guleria said the “main reason” is that people feel the pandemic is over and they are not following COVID-19 appropriate behaviour.

“There are multiple reasons for the surge, but the main reason is that there is a change in people’s attitude and they feel coronavirus is over. People should still restrict non-essential travel for some more time,” he said at an event organised in Delhi by the Indian Police Service (Central) Association.

The health ministry said Maharashtra, Kerala and Punjab cumulatively account for 76.22 percent of India’s total active caseload, with the western state contributing to 62 percent of such cases, while Kerala and Punjab account for 8.83 percent and 5.36 percent of active cases respectively.

Over four crore people in the country have been vaccinated against the disease till now. Under the current phase of the inoculation drive, people above 60 years of age and those in the 45-59 years age bracket with co-morbidities, are being vaccinated.

Ahmedabad re-introduce COVID-19 negative I-Cards to contain ‘super-spreaders’

In a bid to contain the spread of coronavirus in Ahmedabad, one of the cities in Gujarat where the cases are rising, the civic body said it has decided to once again launch its drive to screen the virus ‘super-spreaders’.

‘Super-spreaders’ are those people, who are likely to spread the infection to a large number of people.

People such as vegetable vendors, medicine store owners, grocers, auto-rickshaw drivers, saloon owners, and masons will have to obtain identity cards after getting themselves tested for the virus across 18 urban health centres in the city, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) said.

They will be screened through rapid antigen tests and issued COVID-19 negative identity cards, the civic body said in a release.

Apart from them, food delivery boys and those working in supermarkets will have to get their RT-PCR test done.

Tamil Nadu shuts schools, MP announces ‘Sunday’ lockdown in three cities as cases rise

With Tamil Nadu witnessing a sudden surge in coronavirus cases over the last few days, the state government ordered closure of schools for classes 9, 10 and 11 from 22 March until further orders.

However, they would continue to function for the 12th standard students for they have to take the board examinations.

In Madhya Pradesh, government has announced a lockdown in Indore, Bhopal and Jabalpur cities every Sunday till further orders, an official said here. The lockdown will be in force from Saturday 10 PM to Monday 6 AM. Besides, all educational institutions will remain closed in these three cities till 31 March, said a public relations department official on Friday.

New curbs in European countries brings protesters out on streets, Pak PM tests positive

Several European countries introduced new lockdown measures Saturday as they battled surging coronavirus infections, while Tokyo Olympics organisers were forced to announce an “unavoidable” ban on overseas fans to keep the Games safe.

Residents in Poland, parts of France and Ukraine’s capital Ukraine all woke up to new restrictions, with most shops shut and people urged to work from home.

Elsewhere in Europe, frustrations with COVID-19 curbs were spilling over, with scuffles breaking out at a large anti-restrictions protest in the German city of Kassel, and thousands joining a similar demonstration in Liestal, Switzerland.

“End the lockdown” and “Corona rebels”, read signs held by demonstrators at the protest in Kassel, which was organised by a group that has drawn in activists from both the far-left and far-right as well as anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists.

The pandemic is still speeding up worldwide, with the number of new COVID-19 infections rising globally by 14 percent over the past week, according to AFP data.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan became the latest world leader to test positive — two days after receiving China’s Sinopharm vaccine. The former cricketing legend is self-isolating with mild symptoms, his spokesman said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished Khan a “speedy recovery”.

More than a third of France’s population is now under a renewed lockdown as the country, along with several European neighbours, battles a third wave of the virus.

But the curbs are lighter than those enforced at the height of the pandemic last year, with schools remaining open and hairdressers, cobblers and chocolate shops added to an expanded list of businesses allowed to accept customers.

The government has also scrapped the forms once required to justify all trips outside the home, which were widely derided as an example of excessive French bureaucracy.

AstraZeneca row escalates

The row over AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine meanwhile shows no signs of abating, with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen threatening to halt exports of the jab if the bloc does not receive its deliveries first.

The Anglo-Swedish pharma giant has delivered only 30 percent of the 90 million vaccine doses it had promised for the first quarter of the year, blaming production delays at its EU plants.

“We have the option of banning a planned export. That’s the message to AstraZeneca: you fulfil your contract with Europe first before you start delivering to other countries,” von der Leyen told Germany’s Funke media group.

European officials are furious that AstraZeneca has fallen short on the continent while fully delivering on its UK commitments — something that has allowed the recently-departed EU member to give half of its adult population at least one jab as of Saturday.

AstraZeneca has also had to contend with worries that its jab may cause blood clots, with more than a dozen countries pausing its use recently.

Several European countries including Germany and Italy resumed AstraZeneca vaccinations Friday after an all-clear from EU regulators and the World Health Organization.

But Scandinavian nations Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland have all said they want more information before deploying the vaccine again.

Seeking to reassure their populations, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his French counterpart Jean Castex both received a dose of AstraZeneca on Friday.

“I literally did not feel a thing. It was very good, very quick,” said Johnson who became seriously ill from COVID-19 last year.

With inputs from agencies