New Delhi: Coronavirus is wreaking havoc in India. It is making new records everyday in the country. India saw 59,118 new infections in a day, the highest single-day rise so far this year, taking the nationwide COVID-19 tally to 1,18,46,652. After touching its lowest mark in mid-February, India's active COVID-19 caseload is on a steady rise and has breached the 4-lakh mark again after around three-and-half months. The lowest daily increase of 8,635 COVID-19 cases was reported on February 2 this year. The active caseload was at its lowest at 1,35,926 on February 12. The death toll increased to 1,60,949 with 257 daily new fatalities.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday ordered night curfew in entire Maharashtra from March 28 in view of the unabated rise in COVID-19 cases.
The curfew order will come into effect from the Sunday night. Also, local authorities should ensure that shopping malls remain shut between 8 pm and 7 am, Thackeray ordered after a meeting here.
He also warned of stricter restrictions if people did not observe COVID-19 safety protocol, an official release said.
Maharashtra recorded 36,902 COVID-19 cases on Friday, the highest one-day rise since the pandemic began.
In another turn of incidents, the Health Ministry has rushed two high-level multidisciplinary teams to Chhattisgarh and Chandigarh as both have recently witnessed a significant spurt in fresh Covid-19 cases as well as new deaths every day. According to Union Health Ministry, the Central teams would work with the respective governments of the state and the UT to ascertain the reasons behind the surge, assist in undertaking gap analysis and recommend requisite Covid-19 control and containment measures.
The team to Chhattisgarh is headed by Dr SK Singh, Director, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and also has experts from the AIIMS, Raipur and All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health.
The team to Chandigarh is led by Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor in the Textiles Ministry Vijoy Kumar Singh and also has experts drawn from the RML Hospital and the Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi, the ministry said.
Registering an increase for the 16th day in row, the active cases have increased to 4,21,066 comprising 3.55 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate has further dropped to 95.09 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,12,64,637, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.36 per cent, the data stated.
"Three states — Maharashtra, Kerala and Punjab — together account for 73.64 per cent of the total active cases in the country," the health ministry said.
Ten states — Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Haryana and Rajasthan — are displaying an upward trajectory in daily new cases, it highlighted.
Meanwhile, with 14,53,172 vaccine doses administered in a single day on Friday till 7 pm, the cumulative number of COVID-19 doses of vaccination crossed 5.69 crore on the 70th day of the nationwide vaccination drive that was commenced on January 16.
According to the Health Ministry's provisional report, a total of 5,69,57,612 vaccine doses have been given till 7 pm, which includes 80,66,471 healthcare workers who have taken the first dose and 51,27,234 healthcare workers who have taken the second dose, while 86,79,307 frontline workers have taken the first dose and 34,96,356 frontline workers have taken the second dose.
In the category of senior citizens belonging to more than 60 years, 2,57,01,645 beneficiaries and 58,86,599 beneficiaries aged 45 and above with specific co-morbidities have taken the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, it said.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Friday that the Centre is planning to widen the scope of the COVID-19 immunisation drive by bringing more population groups under its ambit. He said people have embraced the 'Made in India' vaccines, and it is due to this enthusiasm and trust that the country crossed the last one crore vaccination in just under four days.