India surpasses US to report world's largest single-day tally of covid cases

As many as 3,14,835 more people tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative caseload to 1,59,30,965, the Union health ministry said on Thursday morning.

Shivani
Published on: 22 April 2021 6:30 AM GMT
India surpasses US to report worlds largest single-day tally of covid cases
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India today reported a daily jump of 314,835 new coronavirus cases, surpassing the previous highest one-day rise in the world of 297,430 cases posted by the United States in January, according to news agency Reuters. Deaths rose by a record 2,104 to reach a total of 184,657, according to health ministry data.

India reports over 3 lakh new cases

India now has 22,91,428 active cases, up 1,33,890 in 24 hours while 1,78,841 were discharged. India's total cases are now at 15.93 million.

In past 24 hours, more than 22 lakh vaccines were administered, taking the overall doses to 13,23,30,644.

Overall, however, the US has reported highest cases in the world. According to Johns Hopkins University tracker, US has reported 31,862,080, followed by India and Brazil. Infections in America are now on a downward trend helped in part by aggressive vaccination.

The sharp spike in covid cases in India has overwhelmed the healthcare system. Many hospitals in India are grappling with a shortage of oxygen supply amid spiralling COVID-19 cases.

The national capital Delhi logged 24,638 coronavirus cases and 249 deaths in past 24 hours, with positivity rate at 31.28% - meaning almost every third sample turned out to be positive - amid a growing clamour for oxygen and hospital beds in the city.

The worsening outbreak threatens to derail the Indian economy that had just begun to recover after a nationwide lockdown last year pushed it into a historic recession.

"The storm-like resurgence of Covid cases is impacting the economy as well as market sentiments. The localised lockdowns and severe restrictions on movements are sure to take a toll on the expected GDP growth for FY22. There is a downside risk of 1% to GDP growth which may pull down growth from around the expected 10.5% to 9.5%. But these are early days and if the second wave peaks soon and then starts declining, the damage is likely to be marginal," says V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

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Shivani

Shivani

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