India registered the highest Covid-19 weekly count in over four months in the week ending on July 3 (Sunday), surpassing one lack coronavirus cases. Few states, including West Bengal and Odisha that are witnessing Rath Yatra festivities and flood-hit Assam, have reported a manifold increase in Covid-19 cases.
Meanwhile, states like Maharashtra and Delhi that were earlier reporting a spike in cases show a decline in the graph.
Besides, in an alarming pattern, at least 192 deaths were reported during the June 27-July 3 week, which amounts to a rise of over 54% in comparison to 125 in the last week.
According to the data published by the Union Health Ministry, the country India reported 16,103 new Covid cases in a span of 24 hours, which is a marginal decline from the previous day’s count of 17,092 on Sunday.
In the same period, the country reported 31 more Covid deaths, taking the nationwide toll to 5,25,199.
Meanwhile, the active caseload of the country has also risen to 1,11,711 cases, accounting for 0.26 per cent of the country’s total positive cases.
The recovery of 13,929 patients in the last 24 hours took the cumulative tally to 4,28,65,519. Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 98.54 per cent.
Meanwhile, India’s daily positivity rate has also marginally increased to 4.27 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate currently stands at 3.81 per cent.
Maharashtra
Maharashtra on Sunday recorded 2,962 COVID-19 cases, including 761 in Mumbai, and one more patient of BA.4 sub-variant of Omicron besides six fatalities, the health department said in a bulletin. With the latest additions, Maharashtra’s tally of infections rose to 79,85,296 and the COVID-19 death toll to 1,47,940. A day earlier, the state had seen 2,971 cases and five fatalities.
The state is now left with 22,485 active cases. The health bulletin said one more patient of BA.4 sub-variant of Omicron has been detected. The 60-year-old woman patient from Mumbai is fully vaccinated. She had tested positive for coronavirus on June 16. The patient had only mild symptoms of COVID-19 and recovered in home isolation, it said. The cumulative tally of BA.4 and BA.5 patients in the state has gone up to 64 15 in Pune, 34 in Mumbai, four each in Nagpur, Thane and Palghar and three in Raigad.
Mumbai recorded 761 fresh COVID-19 cases and three fatalities while one death each due to COVID-19 was reported from the limits of the Thane Municipal Corporation, Pune and Gadchiroli districts. Maharashtra’s case fatality rate now stands at 1.85 per cent.
A total of 3,918 patients recovered from the coronavirus infection in the last 24 hours, taking the overall number of recoveries in Maharashtra to 78,14,871. The current case recovery rate in the state is 97.87 per cent. A total of 36,858 tests were conducted in the state in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative number of samples tested so far to 8,21,19,146. Maharashtra’s COVID-19 figures are as follows: Fresh cases: 2,962, fresh fatalities: 6, active cases: 22,485, tests: 36,858; total cases 79,85,296, total death toll 1,47,940.
Delhi
Delhi on Sunday reported marginal decline in fresh Covid cases in the last 24 hours, at 648 as against 678 reported on the previous day, but there were five fresh Covid-related deaths, as per the government health bulletin.
Meanwhile, the Covid positivity rate has risen marginally to 4.29 per cent, and the number of active cases stands at 3,268, out of which 2,459 are being treated in home isolation.
With 785 patients recovering in the last 24 hours, the total number of recoveries has gone to 19,07,474.
West Bengal
West Bengal reported 1,822 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, recording a positivity rate of 14.10 per cent, as per the state Health Department. Three more COVID-19 patients died, taking the toll to 21,225.
There are 10,583 active cases in the state at present. Of these patients, 304 had to be admitted to hospitals. The new cases were reported after testing 12,921 samples. The state has so far reported 20,34,485 COVID-19 cases. Altogether 20,02,677 patients have recovered, including 526 in the last 24 hours.
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu has witnessed a rise in the number of new coronavirus cases. It saw 2,672 in the last 24 hours, including two returnees from Maldives, pushing the overall tally to 34,82,775 till date, the Health Department said on Sunday. There were no fatalities in the last 24 hours and the death toll remained at 38,026, a bulletin said here.
As many as 1,487 people recuperated from the virus in the last 24 hours, aggregating to 34,30,245 leaving 14,504 active infections. Chennai registered 1,072 new cases followed by Chengalpet 373, Coimbatore 145, Tiruvallur 131 and Tiruchirappalli 104, while the remaining were spread across districts. Tirupathur recorded the least with two fresh cases.
The State capital leads among districts with 6,058 active infections and overall 7,64,604 cases. A total of 33,289 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, pushing the cumulative number of tests to 6,72,46,684 so far, said the bulletin.
Gujarat
Gujarat on Sunday reported 456 COVID-19 cases, which took the tally to 12,33,698, while the death toll remained unchanged at 10,947, a state health department official said. The recovery count increased by 386 during the day and reached 12,19,203, leaving the state with an active caseload of 13,548, he added.
He said Ahmedabad led with 207 cases, followed by 97 in Surat, 41 in Vadodara, 15 Bhavnagar, among other districts. A government release said 11.15 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Gujarat so far, including 12,372 on Sunday.
Two new COVID-19 cases were reported in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, raising its tally of active cases to seven, local officials said. Gujarat’s COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 12,33,698, new cases 456, death toll 10,947, discharged 12,19,203, active cases 3,548, people tested so far – figures not released.
Kerala
Kerala on Sunday recorded 3,322 fresh COVID-19 cases and two deaths which raised the total caseload in the State to 66,53,272 and the fatalities to 70,048 respectively. The State reported that 3,258 people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours and that the active cases increased to 28,720, according to official data.
On Saturday, the southern State reported 3,642 fresh cases and nine deaths. In view of the gradual increase in COVID cases this month when the State has been, on an average, reporting over 3,000 cases daily, the Police Department recently ordered all district police chiefs to ensure implementation of a State government direction to make wearing of masks mandatory in public and workplaces, gatherings, and while using transportation.
Telangana
Telangana on Sunday recorded 457 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the overall tally to 8,02,379 so far. Hyderabad district registered the highest number of cases with 285.
A health department bulletin said 494 people recuperated from the infection and the cumulative number of recoveries till date was 7,93,521. The recovery rate was at 98.90 per cent.
No fresh fatality occurred due to the infectious disease and the death toll remained at 4,111. The bulletin said 22,384 samples were tested today.
The number of active cases stood at 4,747, it said.
Odisha
Odisha recorded 346 cases on Sunday, the highest spike in over four months, pushing the tally to 12,90,538, the health department said. The test positivity rate shot up to 2.68 per cent from 1.7 per cent the previous day, it said. On February 22, the state had logged 428 cases.
The coronavirus death toll, however, remained at 9,126. The fresh infections, detected out of 12,897 samples, comprise 49 children. Khurda, where the capital Bhubaneswar is located, reported the highest number of single-day cases at 189, followed by 51 in Cuttack, the department said.
Odisha now has 1,310 active cases, while a total of 12,80,049 people have recovered from the disease so far, it added. Meanwhile, after Bhubaneswar, the authorities of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) made wearing masks mandatory in public places, as part of precautionary measures in the fight against the virus.
Assam
As many as 110 more COVID-19 cases were reported in Assam, the highest single-day tally in over four months, pushing the caseload in the state to 7,25,036, a National Health Mission (NHM) bulletin said on Sunday. No fresh death due to the virus was reported with the toll remaining unchanged at 6,639. Apart from that, 1,347 coronavirus-infected patients have died due to other reasons since 2020, the bulletin said.
The state, which had been witnessing an upward spiral in COVID-19 infections since mid-June, last reported over 100 cases in mid-February. On Friday, 78 people had tested positive for the infection.
Altogether 28 more patients were cured of the infection, taking the total number of recoveries to 7,16,498. Assam currently has 550 active cases, up from 468 the previous day.
As many as 2,83,94,204 tests have been conducted in the state thus far, including 1,350 tests on Saturday, the bulletin stated. The positivity rate stood at 8.15 per cent and the recovery rate at 98.82 per cent.
The bulletin also noted that 4,66,63,070 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the state since the drive began last year.
Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh has witnessed a spike in coronavirus infection with the state reporting a five-fold increase in cases in June compared to May and 82 fresh cases in the first two days of July. The positivity rate has shot up from 0.8 in May to 6.6 in July, an official said and dubbed the development “worrying”.
Dr Gurdarshan Gupta, chief medical officer, Kangra, issued an alert in the district on Sunday regarding the spurt in COVID-19 cases. “At present, a huge increase in new cases of Covid has been reported in Kangra. In April, 93 cases were registered and in May, the figure was 86, which suddenly jumped to 426 in June. In just two days of July, we had 82 fresh cases. Similarly the positivity rate, too, jumped from 0.8 in May to 6.6 in the start of July. These figures are worrying.”
Dr Gupta requested the people to follow Covid appropriate behaviour, isolate immediately in case of fever or related symptoms and get themselves tested in order to prevent further spread of the infection.
(With agency inputs)
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