One-day peak of 46,000 Covid cases takes tally past 12-lakh mark

NEW DELHI: India crossed the grim milestone of 12 lakh Covid-19 cases on Wednesday on the back of a record single-day peak which saw the 46,000-mark being breached for the first time even as the country’s cumulative death toll inched closer to the 30,000-figure.


The country also recorded 1,131 casualties, of which 444 had taken place earlier but added by Tamil Nadu to its count only on Wednesday. Minus the backdated deaths, India’s 687 casualties on Wednesday is the highest that the country has reported in a day, taking the cumulative toll to 29,854.


While Maharashtra continues to be the worst affected state, the pandemic has reached alarming proportions in the south with the five southern states alone accounting for nearly 42% of the country’s total fresh cases on Wednesday which stood at 46,221. Maharashtra accounted for almost 23% of the country’s new patients even as 11 other states – Andhra, Tamil Nadu, UP, Karnataka, Assam, Odisha, Punjab, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Tripura – also recorded new peaks in daily cases.

Maharashtra became the first state to cross the 10,000-mark in a single day with 10,576 new patients testing positive for the virus. However, Mumbai accounted for only 1310 or 12% of these cases – a sharp contrast to days not too long ago when the financial capital used to record 70% of Maharashtra’s cases. Andhra Pradesh became the second state after Maharashtra to cross the 6,000-mark in a single day by recording 6,045 cases. It also recorded single-day peak in deaths with 65 casualties, taking the cumulative toll to 823.

Delhi recorded a dip in cases – 1,227 on Wednesday against 1,349 on Tuesday.