India recorded 26,506 new cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), in the highest jump so far, and 475 deaths in the last 24 hours pushing its infection tally to 7,93,802, according to the Union health ministry on Friday (July 10).

The country has recorded more than two lakh Covid-19 cases since July 1 and has witnessed over 20,000 infections every day since July 3.

There were 19,135 patients of the viral disease who were cured between Thursday and Friday morning taking the number of those sent home from hospitals to 495,512. With that, India’s recovery rate is now 62.42%.

On Thursday, the number of recovered cases had overshot the number of Covid-19 active cases by 206,588. The number of recovered is now almost twice the number of active cases.

“This is a result of focused attention on effective surveillance through house-to-house contact tracing, early detection, and isolation as well as timely and effective clinical management of COVID-19 cases,” the Centre said in a release.

The country’s death toll stands at 21,604 after the new fatalities in the last 24 hours, according to the health ministry’s dashboard.

The government has said that India has one of the lowest deaths in the world with deaths per million populations at 15.31 which translates to a fatality rate of 2.75%—the global deaths per million population stand at 68.7.

The Union health ministry said on Thursday patients over the age of 45 years, who form 25% of the country’s population, account for 85% of India’s Covid-19 deaths.

India also has one of the lowest cases per million populations in the world at 538 while the global average is at 1497, the government has said.

It has also said 49 districts across India account for 80% of Covid-19 cases in the country.
Maharashtra continued to be the worst-hit state with more than 2.30 lakh cases and 9,667 deaths. Tamil Nadu has 126,581 Covid-19 cases and 1,765 deaths, while Delhi has reported 107,051 infections and 3,258 deaths till date.

Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal have announced lockdowns once again to contain the spread of the virus as there was a surge in Covid-19 cases.

The government in Uttar Pradesh, where the Covid-19 tally has crossed 32,000, announced a complete weekend shutdown from Friday 10pm till Monday 5am.

In West Bengal, another week of complete lockdown kicked in Thursday afternoon across containment zones. The Covid-19 tally in the eastern state has gone past 25,000.

Five districts, including Patna, in Bihar will go under lockdown from Saturday after more than a month as the state’s Covid-19 count neared 14,000.

Source: Hindustan Times

BDST: 1520 HRS, JULY 10, 2020
AP