India adds over 17k new Covid cases, highest in 53 days

NEW DELHI: Continuing with the surge in fresh Covid-19 infections, new cases in the country on Wednesday were the highest in 53 days even as daily casualties remained in double digits for the third consecutive day after staying in triple figures for the most part of last week.

India added 17,432 new cases to the cumulative Covid-19 tally, which was the highest since January 9 when 18,192 cases were recorded. (The January 9 figure was breached once, on January 29, when nearly 19,000 cases were recorded — but at least 6,000 of these were back-dated cases.) The increase in the numbers continued to be driven by Maharashtra, which recorded the highest daily cases in 137 days with 9,855 patients testing positive for the virus. The last time Maharashtra exceeded this number was on October 17 when the state had recorded 10,259 cases. Punjab, too, recorded a spurt in cases with 778 patients testing positive — the highest since December 6.

At 2,765, Kerala recorded the highest number of cases after Maharashtra. However, the pandemic seems to have slowed down in Kerala. Last Wednesday, Kerala had recorded 4,106 cases. Active cases in the state then stood at 53,502, which came down to 46,637.