New COVID cases surpass 3.30 lakh in India, deaths reach record high too

As many as 3,32,730 more people tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative caseload to 16,263,695, the Union health ministry said on Friday morning.

The graph of daily new cases has gone up again, with India clocking in over 3 lakh for the second day in a row.

Maharashtra continues to be the biggest contributor to the daily tally. The state reported 67,468 new infections on Thursday. It is followed by Uttar Pradesh with 33,106 while Delhi reported 24,638 new cases.

The virus seems to be spreading faster across the country than in the first wave.

There were 317 districts—or 44% of all districts—that reported more than 1,000 new cases in the past seven days. Further, there are 70 districts, across 16 states, where the number of new weekly cases exceeded 5,000 in the past week.

A month ago, the number of such districts was just nine, all in Maharashtra.

On the death toll front, 2,263 more people succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours. The cumulative fatalities in the country now stand at 1,86,920.

There are 27 states where the number of Covid-19 deaths has increased for two weeks running.

In addition to this, 1,93,279 were discharged from various hospitals, taking the total number of recoveries to 1,36,48,159.

As a result, the active tally in India has surpassed the 24-lakh mark to stand at 24,28,616. The number was 22,91,428 on Thursday.

Vaccinations in India

India has administered 13,54,78,420 anti-Covid jabs so far.

The inoculation drive in India was rolled out on 16 January with HCWs getting inoculated and the vaccination of the FLWs started on 2 February.

The next phase of Covid-19 vaccination commenced on 1 March for those who are above 60 years of age and for people aged 45 and above with specified comorbid conditions.

India extended the drive to include everybody aged 45 on 1 April. Now, the government has announced that everybody above the age of 18 would be able to get vaccinated from 1 May.

Registration for this category will begin from 28 April on the CoWIN platform and Aarogya Setu app, the health ministry said on Thursday. The process and documents required to get the vaccine remains the same as before.

On oxygen supply

The central government on Thursday directed states to ensure free movement of vehicles carrying oxygen amid reports of some states diverting the vehicles for local use.

The home ministry invoked the stringent Disaster Management Act 2005, an emergency measure, to direct states to ensure the movement of oxygen tanks without any restriction of timings or other restraints.

The government said medical oxygen is an essential public health commodity, and any impediment in the supplies may put the lives of patients at risk.

Hospitals across the country continued to complain about shortages of oxygen.

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