New Delhi: India on Sunday, August 30 set a record as it became the first and the only country in the world to report 80,092 fresh Covid-19 cases since the outbreak of the deadly virus, surpassing the United States and taking the nationwide tally to 36,16,747 , according to Hindustan Times’ dashboard.
This single-day spike comes in the last week of August wherein the virus outbreak has been on a constant rise. However, the 80,000-plus peak was recorded on a Sunday when the number of fresh cases was comparatively lower than that of other days of the week. The highest tally on a Sunday was last recorded on August 9 with 63,851 fresh cases. After Sunday’s spike, the seven-day average of daily cases in the country stands at 73,318 , a new global record.
NATIONWIDE SURGE IN THE NUMBER OF FRESH CASES
India’s toll of fresh coronavirus cases has shot up alarmingly in the last week of August with more than 76,000 fresh infections being reported daily for five consecutive days. The growth rate of new infections stood at 13.1 percent in the last week, in comparison to 4.7 growth rate of infections registered in the previous week. While the first week of August had reported a growth rate of 10.9 percent, the second week of August had reported 5.9 percent growth in fresh COVID-19 cases. The new peak in infections came as Maharashtra recorded its second-highest single-day rise in infections with 16,408 new cases. Whereas, the number of new cases in Delhi also breached the 2,000 mark after a gap of over 50 days.
GROWTH RATE IN FATALITIES MORE THAN DOUBLED
India reported over 1000 fresh deaths for four consecutive days in the last week of August, nearly doubling the growth rate in fatalities in comparison to the previous week. The growth rate of deaths was 3.9 percent in the last week of August, in comparison to 1.7 percent recorded in the previous week. With this, India’s total number of coronavirus deaths has almost reached the 65,000 mark.
The surge in cases is likely to continue for weeks owing to the relaxations announced under the Unlock 4.0 guidelines in an attempt to boost the economy and get the country back to normal. The government has also announced the resumption of metro services from September 7, as well as allowed the gathering of over 100 people at cultural, political, academic, sports events with strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols.
Read more: https://34.94.89.117/unlock-4-metro-services-to-resume-from-september-7/
Image Credits: The Times of India
