New Delhi: India reported 96,982 fresh coronavirus cases that have pushed its infection tally to 1,26,86,049 in the past 24 hrs, Union Health Ministry data on Tuesday updated.
With 446 deaths since Monday, the death toll too has spiked to 1,65,547. Meanwhile, recoveries among COVID-19 patients in the country has surged to 1,17,32,279.
Of the daily infections, 47,288 cases were reported in Maharashtra, whereas cases in Chhattisgarh scaled a new high of 7,302, and the count in Karnataka crossed the 5,000-mark. The country’s active case tally now stands at 7,88,223. While 164 people died in Maharashtra, 72 deceased in Punjab.
Over 43 lakh people were also inoculated on Monday, pushing the vaccination count up to 8,31,10,926.
India has recorded the highest COVID cases in the world after the United States and Brazil.
The Prime Minister will interact with Chief Ministers on Thursday to discuss the COVID-19 situation and the ongoing vaccination drive after his last interaction with Chief Ministers was on March 17 during which he had expressed concern over the rise in COVID-19 cases in parts of the country and called for “quick and decisive” steps to check the “emerging second peak”.
At a high-level meeting on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided that central teams should immediately be sent to three states – Maharashtra, Punjab and Chhattisgarh.
The pandemic has killed 2,850,521 people and infected 131,020,967 people globally since it emerged in China in late 2019.