Another record 2.95 lakh nCoV cases & over 2K deaths reported in past 24 hours

New Delhi: With nearly 3,00,000 fresh COVID-19 cases, India reported its biggest-ever single-day spike at 2,95,041 infections that have pushed the overall tally to 15,616,130, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Wednesday.

The country also registered the highest-ever single-day spike in Covid-related deaths with 2,023 fatalities, pushing the death toll from the deadly infection to 182,570.With the current surge, there are more than 2.1 million active cases across the nation.

Badly-affected cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Bhopal, Kolkata, Allahabad and Surat have almost run out of hospital beds with no available ICU beds in sight. The cities are now frantically converting extra capacity and hotels and stadiums into COVID-19 care centres.

With 277 deaths and 28,395 new infections, several government hospitals in the national capital on Tuesday complained of the shortage of oxygen stock, saying that it would last only for few hours and “people will die” if they do not get oxygen.

The top 10 states that have contributed the most to the daily Covid-19 tally in the past 24 hours are Maharashtra (62,097 cases), Uttar Pradesh (29,574 cases), Delhi (28,395 cases), Karnataka (21,794 cases), Kerala (19,577 cases), Chhattisgarh (15,625 cases), Madhya Pradesh (12,727 cases), Gujarat (12,206 cases), Rajasthan (12,201 cases) and Tamil Nadu (10,986 cases).

As many as 1,67,457 patients recovered and got discharged in the last 24 hrs, pushing the total number of recoveries to 1,32,76,039. Meanwhile, a total of 29,90,197 people have been administered nCoV jabs since Tuesday. The total number of vaccinations administered now stand at 13,01,19,310.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged the nation this morning to follow the Covid-19 guidelines. Greeting the country on Ram Navami, PM Modi asked people to follow all the protocols in place to avoid getting the infection and keep the mantra of "dawai bhi, kadai bhi" in mind.

In his address to the nation on Tuesday over the coronavirus situation in India, he asserted that lockdowns should be the "last resort" to deal with the raging pandemic.

Globally, India has the second-highest case tally in the world after the US with more than 15 million cases, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.(UNI)