India records 53,476 new Covid-19 cases in a day amidst threat of a new surge
26 Mar 2021
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The ministry of health and family welfare confirmed 53,476 new cases of Covid-19 infections in the country, which has taken the nationwide tally to 11.7 million.
This is the highest number of daily infections recorded in the country since October last year.
The health ministry also reported 26,490 recoveries, taking the total recoveries to 11.2 million and the total number of active Covid-19 cases in the country to 3.95 lakh
The health ministry also reported 251 virus-related deaths in the last 24 hours, which raised the toll so far to 1.60 lakh.
The spike in new Covid-19 cases comes mainly from state like Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, and Gujarat, which together account for 77.44 per cent of the new cases, according to the health ministry.
Maharashtra remains the worst-affected state in the country having reported 31,855 new coronavirus cases yesterday alone. The state government also confirmed that it is at the top of the list concerning the number of vaccine doses administered.
Meanwhile, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that 1.07 million samples were tested for Covid-19 across the country, which took the total number of samples tested till 24 March to 237.5 million.
Simultaneously, the vaccination drive is in full swing across the country and, according to the central government, 53.1 million people have been vaccinated so far in the country.
Mumbai also saw a rise in Covid-19 mutated strain, forcing health authorities to sound a red alert, after 21 people tested positive with double mutant variant
The state government also confirmed that it is at the top of the list concerning the number of vaccine doses administered.
Covid-19 vaccines currently in use in India – covishield and covaxin – are effective against UK and Brazilian variants, according to ICMR
