Daily cases of Covid-19 in India crossed 60,000 on Friday for the first time in 160 days, with Maharashtra, Punjab and Gujarat in the midst of their worst outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic in the country.
India also recorded 289 deaths from the virus in the last 24 hours, the highest daily toll since December 30.
With daily cases showing the sharpest ever rise over the past 15 days, active cases surged by more than 32,000 on Friday, which was the biggest ever increase in the tally. The number of active cases in the country, which crossed the 4 lakh mark just a day earlier, went past 4.5 lakh on Friday. Active cases had shown a net increase in 34 out of 36 states/UTs on Thursday.
India reported 62,336 fresh cases in the last 24 hours, the highest since October 17 last year, with Maharashtra reporting another all-time high of 36,902 new cases. Mumbai all breached all previous records, adding 5,515 cases on Friday. The state has reported 35,000-plus new cases for the two days in a row.
Besides Maharashtra, Punjab and Gujarat logged their highest-ever count of new cases. Punjab added 3,176 infections, going over the 3,000 mark for the first time. The state also reported 59 deaths, the second highest in the country after Maharashtra, where the day’s toll was 112. Gujarat, with 2,190 fresh cases on Friday, logged its highest-ever count for the fifth straight day.
In all, at least 18 states and UTs registered their highest single-day case counts since January or earlier, with 15 logging their highest tallies this year. Among these, Chhattisgarh saw its tally surge to 2,665, the highest since October 15 last year, while Karnataka’s count of 2,566 was the highest since November 11.
MP recorded 2,091 cases, (highest since September 27), Tamil Nadu 1,971 (highest since November 12), Delhi 1,534 (December 16), Haryana 1,322 (December 9), UP 1,032 (December 30), Andhra 984 (November 26), Rajasthan 853 (December 25), Bengal 646 (January 14), Telangana 518 (December 25), Himachal 351 (December 24), Jharkhand 308 (November 7), Odisha 234 (January 11) and J&K 210 (January 2).