India reports 1.5 lakh COVID-19 cases and 839 deaths in last 24 hours

This is the fifth consecutive day when one-day spike in coronavirus cases crossed the 1-lakh mark in the country which is hit by the second wave of COVID-19.

The death toll due to the disease has increased to 1,52879 with 839 people succumbing to the disease in the last 24 hours, as per the Union Health Ministry. This is the highest single-day death count since March 31.

The active cases breached the 11-lakh mark for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic. The lowest active caseload was 1,35,926 on February 12 and the highest was 10,17,754 on September 18, 2020. Five states namely Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and Kerala cumulatively account for 72.23 per cent of the country’s total active COVID-19 cases.

The total number of cured COVID-19 patients climbed to 1,20,81,443 with 90,584 people recovering from the disease in the last 24 hours. The alarming surge in COVID cases has forced many states to impose several fresh restrictions and enforce night curfew to curb the spread of the disease. All passengers coming from Maharashtra to Delhi by air will have to produce a negative RT-PCR report of a test conducted within 72 hours of their entry into Delhi. Those arriving from Maharashtra without a negative test report will be quarantined for 14 days.

India has administered a total of 98 million Covid-19 vaccines to 3.6 per cent of its population, of which 6 per cent have received one dose and only about 0.9% have received the two shots required, according to a Bloomberg tracker. This is well below the country’s target of immunizing 300 million people by August.

टीका उत्सव पर देशवासियों से आग्रह। pic.twitter.com/GvGV3OCnP7

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 11, 2021

With an aim to vaccinate the maximum number of eligible people against coronavirus, the government has launched a four-day vaccination festival called ‘Tika Utsav’, following PM Narendra Modi’s call for mass vaccination for people.