India on Friday added 44,230 new coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours - the highest cases in nearly two weeks -while deaths from COVID-19 rose by 555, as per the health ministry's latest database. The country's overall caseload now stands at 3.15 crore, while total fatalities are at 4.23 lakh.
The top five states which have registered the maximum number of Covid-19 cases are Kerala with 22,064 cases, followed by Maharashtra with 7,242 cases, Andhra Pradesh with 2,107 cases, Karnataka with 2,052 cases and Tamil Nadu with 1,859 cases.
As many as 79.85 per cent of the new cases are reported from these five states, with Kerala alone responsible for 49.88 per cent of the new cases.
Meanwhile, Karnataka and capital Bengaluru today recorded a steep spike in Covid cases. The state reported 2,052 new cases today, 34 per cent more than Wednesday's tally of 1,531. The capital city clocked 505 cases, also 34 per cent more than Wednesday's count of 376.
After getting a rebuke from the Supreme Court for its Bakrid relaxations, Kerala has decided to enforce total lockdown this weekend. The increase in the 'R' factor also meant that the rate of infection is reaching the red zone.
Amid a surge in Covid-19 cases in Kerala, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has decided to depute a six-member high-level multi-disciplinary team to the state to "collaborate" with the state's health authorities for management of the outbreak.
Active cases of Covid-19 rose to 4,05,155 in the said time period, according to data released by the health ministry at 8 am. The national Covid-19 recovery rate improved to 1.28 per cent, it stated. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,07,43,972, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.34 per cent, it said.
As many as 18,16,277 Covid-19 tests were conducted on Thursday, taking the total number of tests so far to 46,46,50,723.
The Union health ministry on Thursday said that more than 28.8 million balance and unutilised Covid-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states, UTs and private hospitals to be administered.
It added that over 474.8 million vaccine doses have been provided to states and UTs so far through all sources and a further 53,05,260 doses are in the pipeline.