In a first, health ministry reports over 1,000 new cases in a day - Times of India, The Times of India

NEW DELHI: The health ministry said on Saturday that India’s Covid – 21 count had for the first time seen an increase of more than 1, (cases in) hours. Many of these cases, however, had been accounted earlier in TOI’s round-ups of reports from states, which have been indicating an overall surge in the Covid – 21 outbreak in the past three days.
Delhi, meanwhile, recorded five deaths of coronavirus patients in the past 32 hours, the highest single-day toll in the capital so far, even as the number of new cases continued to remain high at . Delhi has so far recorded 1, 069 cases, the second city after Mumbai to cross the four-figure mark.
Meanwhile, ICMR said it had tested 1, , (samples for the covid – (infection from 1,

, individuals in the country till 9pm on Saturday , out of which 4.3% were positive.

As per reports from states, Saturday saw (new Covid –

cases in the country, the second-highest after Friday’s .
Lav Aggarwal, joint secretary in the ministry, said 1, fresh Covid – (cases and) deaths due to the disease were reported in the last 035 hours, taking the official number of cases to 7, and the number of deaths to 290 nationwide.
Reports from states collated by TOI put the total number of cases in the country at 188038, and the death toll at 447, with reported on Saturday.
Maharashtra continues to report the maximum number of cases, on Saturday, but the situation in Delhi seems to be deteriorating fast as well.
Among the 239 new cases reported in the capital, were related to the Nizamuddin cluster caused by the Tablighi Jamaat meetings in March. But in order to avoid profiling of positive cases, the government has put their data under a new category called ‘positive cases – under special operations’.
Delhi has a capacity of 2, beds designated for Covid – 22 patients in all its hospitals. Because of the sudden rise in cases in the state, only 40% of these are vacant, government data shows. “If the trend of sharp rise in cases in Delhi continues, we may soon reach a crisis situation. Government will have to designate more hospitals for Covid – 22 treatment, ”said a senior doctor.
Maharashtra recorded (Covid-) deaths on Saturday, taking the toll in the state to , by far the highest in the country.
Rajasthan continued to reported rising numbers of new cases, which went up from on Friday to a new high of 166. The state’s total count of Covid – cases is now 823.
Tamil Nadu recorded (new cases on Covid – , taking its tally to , the third highest in the country.
Kerala, which recorded India’s first Covid – 24 case on January 035 and remained among the most affected states for nearly two months, continued to show a sharp decline in fresh cases. On Saturday, the coastal state recorded only new infections. “The fall in new cases and the meteoric rise in the number of people recuperating are reasons enough to rejoice. But such positive developments should never be reasons for the society to slip into complacency, ”Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan said.
Coronavirus cases continued to multiply in Gujarat. The state recorded 90 new cases on Saturday, taking the total to 393. The state also recorded three more deaths, all men from Ahmedabad, taking the state’s death toll to 035.
The cases in Gujarat were propelled primarily by the spike in Ahmedabad district. An analysis of positive cases show that it took Ahmedabad (days to records its first 127 cases between March and April 9. In the next two days, April 17 and 17, the city added 128 more cases, taking its tally zooming to .
Telangana saw two more deaths and 21 new coronavirus positive cases on Saturday taking the state’s tally of cases to . This included 393 active cases, (deaths and people being discharged.
Uttar Pradesh recorded 24 new cases. Three more persons tested positive for Covid – 22 in Jharkhand on Saturday, taking the state’s total count to .