COVID-19: India Overtakes Brazil With Second Highest Number of Cases

New Delhi: India has surpassed Brazil to record the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases at 1,35,27,717, as a record 1,68,912 new infections were reported in a day.

The active cases have surpassed the 12-lakh mark, while the death toll increased to 1,70,179 with 904 new fatalities in a day, the highest since October 18, 2020, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated at 8 AM on Monday.

The national COVID-19 recovery rate has fallen below 90%.

According to the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) data, India has overtaken Brazil, which is now at the third spot in the COVID tally with 1,34,82,023 cases.

The US has the highest number of cases at 3,11,98,055 while globally 13,61,36,954 cases have been reported.

 Registering a steady increase for the 33rd day in a row, the active cases have increased to 12,01,009 in India comprising 8.88 percent of the total infections, while the recovery rate has further dropped to 89.86 percent.

Before the latest surge, the active caseload was at its highest at 10,17,754 on September 18, 2020 and had decreased to 1, 35,926 on February 12.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,21,56,529, while the case fatality rate has further dropped to 1.26 percent, the data stated.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.

It went past 60 lakh on September 28,  70 lakh on  October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

According to the ICMR, 25,78,06,986 samples have been tested up to April 11 with 11,80,136 samples being tested on Sunday.

The 904 new fatalities include 349 from Maharashtra, 122 from Chhattisgarh, 67 from Uttar Pradesh, 59 from Punjab, 54from Gujarat, 48 from Delhi, 40 from Karnataka, 24 from Madhya Pradesh, 22 from Tamil Nadu, 21 from Jharkhand, 16 each from Kerala and Haryana and 10 each from Rajasthan and West Bengal.

A total of 1,70,179 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 57,987 from Maharashtra, 12,908 from Tamil Nadu, 12,889 from Karnataka, 11,283 from Delhi, 10,400 from West Bengal, 9,152 from Uttar Pradesh, 7,507 from Punjab and 7,300 from Andhra Pradesh.

The health ministry stressed that more than 70% of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

Delhi to Convert Some Govt, Pvt Hospitals to ‘Covid Only’

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday directed officials to convert some government and private hospitals into dedicated COVID-19 facilities to cope with the alarming rise in the number of cases in the national capital.

Terming the COVID-19 situation in Delhi "very serious", the chief minister also asked the officials to request the Centre to increase the number of beds for COVID-19 patients in its hospitals in the city, an official statement said.

Kejriwal said the number of beds in government and private hospitals must be at par with that in November last year, when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak.

He also directed the officials to convert some private and government hospitals into dedicated COVID-19 facilities, according to the statement.

He added that the objective of his government is to provide the best COVID-19 treatment facilities to the people of Delhi.

"We will further request the central government to increase COVID beds in central government hospitals as well," Kejriwal said.

The fourth wave of the pandemic is the most dangerous so far and there should be no shortage of beds, he said.

Officials present at the meeting told the chief minister that COVID-19 patients are rapidly filling up hospital beds in Delhi.

Kejriwal expressed concern over people with very mild or no symptoms getting admitted to hospitals and occupying beds.

He said only those patients who are serious should come to hospitals and all others must be treated in home isolation.