India sees highest-ever rise in single-day Covid-19 cases

India's coronavirus tally crossed 1.25 crore with 1,03,558 cases in the last 24 hours on Monday — the highest single-day rise ever in the country — according to Union health ministry data.

The single-day rise in cases surpassed the earlier peak of 97,894 infections reported on September 17, last year, making it the highest so far. However, the country had not breached the 1-lakh mark for new cases until now. According to data, India is only the second country after the United States to record a single-day spike of over one lakh.

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The death toll climbed to 1,65,101 on Monday with 478 new fatalities, the ministry data updated at 8 am showed.

Registering a steady increase for the 26th straight day, the number of active cases surged to 7,41,830, accounting for 5.54 per cent of the total infections. The recovery rate further dropped to 93.14 per cent, the data stated.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease increased to 1,16,82,136.

Last year, it took 76 days for the single-day rise in coronavirus cases in India to reach the then peak of 97,894 from 20,000. However, this time the daily rise in cases has galloped at a much faster pace taking just 25 days (March 10 to April 4) to cross the grim milestone of one-lakh infections.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting on Sunday to review the Covid-19 situation and the vaccination programme amid the "alarming rate of growth" in infections and deaths, with 10 states contributing to more than 91 per cent of them.

Also read: PM Modi reviews Covid-19 situation amid 'alarming rate of growth' in cases, deaths

Later in the evening, Maharashtra, which is the worst affected, announced a weekend lockdown in the state from 8 pm on Friday and a shut down of private offices, except in the banking and insurance sectors, from Monday night with employees allowed to work from home, besides other restrictions.

According to the ICMR, 24,90,19,657 samples have been tested up to April 4 with 8,93,749 samples being tested on Sunday.

The 478 new fatalities include 222 from Maharashtra, 51 from Punjab, 36 from Chhattisgarh, 31 from Uttar Pradesh, 15 from Karnataka, 14 each from Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, 11 from Madhya Pradesh and 10 each from Himachal Pradesh and Kerala.

A total of 1,65,101 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 55,878 from Maharashtra, 12,778 from Tamil Nadu, 12,625 from Karnataka, 11,081 from Delhi, 10,344 from West Bengal, 8,881 from Uttar Pradesh and 7,239 from Andhra Pradesh and 7,083 from Punjab.

The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.

(With PTI inputs)