Harsh Vardhan meets health ministers of 11 states

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan chairs a meeting with health ministers of 11 states and Union Territories on Tuesday, according to news agency ANI citing its sources.

India has recorded over 1 lakh COVID-19 cases in a span of 24 hours today, the highest single daily spike in infections since the pandemic started last year.

India has become the third country after the US and Brazil to register a six-figure addition in COVID-19 cases in a single day. On January 8, the United States surpassed 300,000 daily coronavirus cases, reported the Washington Post. On March 25, Brazil recorded 100,158 new coronavirus cases and 2,777 new deaths, the country’s Health Ministry said.

Meanwhile, the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country reached 7,91,05,163, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday.

From April 2, the government started vaccinating all people above 45 years. India started its vaccination drive on January 16 with priority given to all healthcare and frontline workers in the first phase. The second phase started on March 1 where doses were administered to people above the age of 60 and those between 45 and 59 years with specific comorbidities.

The daily rise in COVID-19 cases in India crossed the grim milestone of one-lakh from 20,000 infections in just 25 days, unlike last year when it took 76 days for daily cases to reach the then peak of 97,894 on September 17, reflecting the speed at which the virus is spreading.

Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 57,074 . It is followed by Chhattisgarh with 5,250 while Karnataka reported 4,553 new cases. Eight states including Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab have shown a steep rise in the daily new cases accounting for 81.90 per cent of the new cases reported in a span of 24 hours.

The daily rise in cases fell below 30,000 since December 14 and the lowest daily increase of 8,635 infections was reported on February 2 this year. ANI