COVID-19: India records 4.12 lakh new cases, Govt says third wave is inevitable

New Delhi: India recorded the highest single-day COVID-19 infections and deaths with 4,12,262 people testing positive and 3,980 patients losing their lives in the past 24 hours, taking the cumulative figures to 2,10,77,410 and 23,01,68, respectively, Health Ministry data showed on Thursday.

A total of patients infected with the novel coronavirus were 3,29,113 discharged during the same time period, pushing the total recoveries to 1,72,80,844. India has a total of 35,66,398 active cases at the moment.

The northern states of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab registered their highest Covid-19 deaths with the most populous state recording the biggest single-day jump of 357 Covid-19 deaths that took the toll to 14,151 while it registered 31,165 fresh cases. Lucknow and Kanpur registered the highest deaths in the state.

Punjab on Wednesday saw another record 182 fatalities, bringing the toll to 9,825, while 8,015 fresh infections, the biggest single-day spike, took the tally to 4,07,509, according to a medical bulletin. The number of active cases rose from 61,935 on Tuesday to 63,007 Wednesday.

Twelve states, including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, have more than 1 lakh active COVID-19 cases, according to the government. Thirty districts are showing a continued rise in the number of coronavirus cases for the last two weeks. Ten of these districts are in Kerala, seven in Andhra Pradesh, three in Karnataka and one in Tamil Nadu, it said.

The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country so far stands at 16,24,30,828, the health ministry said. It said 2,30,305 beneficiaries in the 18-44 age group received the first dose of the vaccine on Wednesday across 12 states and Union territories. The total number of people in this age group who have been inoculated against the viral disease stands at 9,02,731, the Ministry added.

Meanwhile, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister Wednesday said a third wave of Covid-19 was inevitable given the high levels of the circulating virus and that they couldn’t predict a time frame for it. Dr K V Vijay Raghavan also admitted that experts had not anticipated the “ferocity” of the second wave currently sweeping the country. The Centre also said that the “surge in cases seen over the last one and a half month in some states” shows a “correlation with the rise in (presence) B.1.617.” However, the Centre added a key caveat: the epidemiological and clinical correlation of B.1.617 and the surge is not “fully established”. (UNI)