As many as 25,320 more people have tested positive for Covid-19 across the country in the past 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry. This is the largest single-day increase in the number of new infections so far this year.
No less than 26,624 new infections were recorded on December 20 of last year.
The number of daily fresh cases has been steadily increasing since the last week of February and reached record levels in the past three days.
With the addition of the new cases, the cumulative number of cases in India has reached 1 13 59 048.
After experiencing a downward trend for more than a month, the country is now preparing for a possible second wave. There are currently 2.10,544 active cases in India.
The count crossed the 2 lakh mark on Saturday after 53 days. The number was 2.02,022 yesterday, 1.97,237 Friday and 1.89,226 Thursday. The charge was 1,848,598 on Wednesday.
On top of that, 161 people have lost their lives to the disease in the past 24 hours, bringing the toll to 1,58,607. This is the highest number of deaths from Covid-19 besides two weeks.
A total of 16,637 recovered from the disease on Sunday. The total number of recoveries now stands at 1.09 89,897.
India’s Covid-19 tally crossed 20 lakh on August 7 last year, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It topped 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20, and crossed the one crore mark on December 19.
Total tests performed
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) reported on Sunday that a total of 22,67,03,641 samples have been tested across the country so far. Of these, 8.64,368 samples were tested on Saturday.
Vaccinations in India
India has so far vaccinated 2.97,38,409 people.
The country on Saturday – the 56th day of the vaccination campaign – recorded the highest number of vaccinations given in a single day.
The nationwide vaccination campaign was launched on January 16, health workers were vaccinated, and vaccination of frontline workers began from February 2.
The next phase of the Covid-19 vaccination began on March 1 for people over the age of 60 and for people aged 45 and over with specified comorbidities.