Covid cases now doubling in 203 days from 504 on March 1

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New Delhi: The doubling time of COVID-19 cases in India has decreased from 504.4 days on March 1 to 202.3 days on March 23, the health ministry said on Tuesday, highlighting that six states have reported a surge in daily new cases and together account for 80.90% of the new infections reported in a day.

Meanwhile, more than 32.53 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered on March 22, which is the highest single-day vaccination so far, taking the total number of people inoculated to over 4.8 crore.

Six states — Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu — collectively account for 80.90% of the 40,715 infections reported in a span of 24 hours.

Maharashtra continues to report the highest daily new cases at 24,645 (60.53%). It is followed by Punjab with 2,299 cases and Gujarat with 1,640 new cases.

Ten states — Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Haryana and Rajasthan — are displaying an upward trajectory in the daily new COVID-19 cases, the ministry said.

India’s total active caseload is rising after touching its lowest mark in mid-February, the ministry highlighted. It increased to 3.45 lakh (3,45,377) on Tuesday, a net rise of 10,731 cases recorded from the total active caseload in a span of 24 hours.

Three states — Maharashtra, Kerala and Punjab — accounted for 75.15 per cent of total active cases in the country. Maharashtra alone accounted for 62.71 per cent of the total active cases in India.

The doubling time decreased from 504.4 days on March 1 to 202.3 days on March 23. Over 4.8 crore (4,84,94,594) vaccine doses have been administered through 7,84,612 sessions, as per the provisional report till Tuesday 7 am.

The first dose administration crossed 4 crore mark on Tuesday (4,06,31,153). The 4,84,94,594 people include 78,59,579 HCWs (first dose), 49,59,964 HCWs (second dose), 82,42,127 FLWs (first dose) and 29,03,477 FLWs (second dose), 42,98,310 beneficiaries aged more than 45 to 60 specific co-morbidities (first dose) and more than 2 crore ( 2,02,31,137) beneficiaries aged more than 60 years.

As on day 66 of the vaccination drive (March 22), more than 32 lakh (32,53,095) vaccine doses were given. Out of which, 29,03,030 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 48,345 sessions for the first dose (HCWs and FLWs) and 3,50,065 HCWs and FLWs received the second dose of the vaccine.

India’s cumulative recoveries surged to 1,11,81,253, with 29,785 recoveries being registered in a span of 24 hours. Besides, 199 deaths were reported in a span of 24 hours.

Six states accounted for 80.4 per cent of the daily deaths, with Maharashtra and Punjab each reporting 58 casualties. Kerala and Chhattisgarh followed with 12 deaths each.

Fourteen states and UTs have not reported any COVID19 deaths in the last 24 hours. These are Jammu and Kashmir, Goa, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Lakshadweep, Sikkim, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Ladakh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.