India Adds 8,329 New COVID-19 Cases In 24 Hours, Daily Tally In Maharashtra Crosses 3,000
Amid the fears of another wave of COVID-19 in the country, India on Saturday added 8,329 new infections in the past 24 hours.
With this, the total number of confirmed cases in India till now has reached 4,32,13,435.
With an increase of 4,103, the count of active cases jumped to 40,370, according to Union Health Ministry data on Saturday.
In the past 24 hours, India also reported 10 deaths from COVID-19 taking the tally so far to 5,24,757.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.41 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 1.75 per cent, according to the health ministry.
Maharashtra, Kerala account for more than 60% cases
Among the states, Maharashtra on Friday recorded 3,081 new COVID-19 infections, the highest in nearly four months.
State capital Mumbai alone accounted for 1,956 new cases, highest since January 23. On Thursday, the state had recorded 2,813 new cases and one death. Friday's rise in cases was the highest since February 13 when the state had recorded 3,502 cases. The number of active cases in Maharashtra now stands at 13,329. Only Gondia district has zero active cases.?
Kerala on Friday saw 2,813 new COVID-19 cases. Maharashtra and Kerala accounted for 66 percent of the new infections in the country.?
Delhi, Karnataka also see increase in new cases
In the past 24 hours national capital Delhi added 655 new COVID-19 infections.
New COVID-19 cases in Karnataka breached the 500-mark in the past 24 hours.
The state added 525 new COVID cases, the highest in three-and-a-half months.
Fourth wave of COVID? Not yet says ICMR
With infections rising in many states there is a growing concern about the fourth wave of COVID-19 in India.
However, a top health expert from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Delhi ruled this out as the fourth wave.
Ą°It's wrong to say 4th wave is coming, we need to examine district-level data. High number of cases in few districts can't be considered as unifrom increase in cases across country. Not every variant is variant of concern," Dr Samiran Panda, Additional director-general of ICMR told ANI.
He also said that panic does not serve as a COVID pandemic response or public health response as it does not help analyse the data, therefore, panic doesn't serve any purpose.
"Panic does not serve as a COVID pandemic response or public health response because a panic does not help to analyse the data or looking carefully to be so that's why panic doesn't serve a purpose," Panda said.
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