Record 50,000+ new Covid cases on Sunday; 5,000+ deaths in 7 days

Daily Covid-19 cases in India went past 50,000 for the first time on Sunday even as the total caseload crossed 14 lakh, capping the deadliest week of the pandemic so far when total cases grew by 28% and the death toll jumped by 19%.


On Sunday, 50,362 cases were reported in the country, beating the previous single-day high of 49,055 reported on Friday, as per data collated from state governments. India has now recorded 14,34,851 Covid-19 cases in all. One in every five coronavirus cases in India till date was recorded in the past week.

During this week (July 20-26), 3,17,892 new infections were detected, a 34% jump over the previous week’s tally of 2,37,999 cases. The week also saw 5,315 deaths from the virus, 24% higher than the toll of 4,285 in the previous week.

The US and Brazil are the only two other countries that have recorded over 50,000 cases in a single day. Daily cases rose sharply during the week. On the previous Sunday (July 19), the country had reported 40,000 fresh cases for the first time. The daily count of cases has hit four record highs in the past five days.

The daily death toll also rose sharply during the week, crossing 700 for the first time on July 23, when 750 fatalities were reported. The next day, the count rose to 757. On Sunday, 717 deaths were recorded across the country, led by 267 in Maharashtra, 85 in Tamil Nadu, 82 in Karnataka and 56 in Andhra Pradesh.

The week also saw a record 2,17,660 coronavirus patients recovering from the infection. At the same time, the number of active cases too went up by 94,917, the highest rise in a week so far.

On Sunday, Maharashtra again led the count of cases with 9,431 fresh infections, followed by Andhra Pradesh (7,627) and Tamil Nadu (6,986). The three states, along with Karnataka, accounted for nearly 60% of all cases.