India has reported record 49,931 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the country’s overall tally to 1.4 million on Monday.
India also witnessed 708 coronavirus-related deaths in a day, taking the total Covid-19 fatalities in the country to 32,826, reports India Today.
This is the fifth consecutive day when Covid-19 cases have increased by more than 45,000. India is now the third worst-hit coronavirus nation in terms of total cases after the US and Brazil.
As per updated data by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the total positive coronavirus cases in India stand at 14,37,976.
This overall tally includes 4,86,244 active cases, while 9,18,906 have recovered, the health ministry said. The total number of confirmed cases also includes foreigners. Meanwhile, the recovery rate in India has improved to 63.9%.
The surge in numbers came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said people need to remain “extra vigilant” as the threat posed by the outbreak persists, reports Hindustan Times.
Modi also said it was important to practise social distancing and wear masks to fight the virus.
According to data analysed by HT, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar face the immediate risk of becoming the new hotspots of Covid-19 due to a rapid increase in new cases, rising positivity rates and low testing.
Karnataka has reported 96,141 cases, Andhra Pradesh 96,298, West Bengal 58,718 and Bihar 39,176 so far.
Maharashtra continued to the worst-hit state in the country with an infection tally of 375,799, followed by Tamil Nadu with 213,723 cases and Delhi with 130,606 cases.
According to Johns Hopkins University’s tracker, there are more than 16 million people who have contracted the viral disease and 647,928 patients have died so far across the world.