India reports 62,267 fresh COVID-19 cases over 24 hours

NEW DELHI: A total of 62,267 new COVID-19 infections were detected across India on Friday.

It was the largest single-day rise in cases since October 16, as the country's second wave of the virus pushed case numbers higher, prompting governments to reintroduce social gathering restrictions just ahead of Holi and the other festivals.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra yesterday declared that a night curfew would be imposed across the state from March 28 in an effort to curb the outbreak.

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The state, which has been hit the hardest by the virus, has recorded 36,902 new cases, the largest single-day rise in history.

The state has set a new all-time record for daily cases for the sixth time in nine days, a statistic that shows how the current epidemic is much worse than anything seen in the state during the first wave.

In response to the resurgence of infections in several states, the Centre directed two high-level multidisciplinary teams to Chhattisgarh and Chandigarh on Friday to assist local governments in containing the outbreak.

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Apart from Maharashtra, two other states – Punjab and Gujarat – have set new records for the number of new cases filed in a single day.

While Punjab reported 3,122 new cases, Gujarat reported 2,190, Chhattisgarh2,665, and Chandigarh reported 248 new infections.

Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh Haryana, and Rajasthan are among the states and UTs that have seen clear upward trends in the last month.

The number of active cases in the country has surpassed 500,000 for the first time since November 2020 as a result of this increase.

There are currently 454,178 active cases in the country as last night.

When the first wave peaked in September, the number of active cases in India surpassed a million, but it has been dropping steadily since then.

With the start of a new wave of infections a month ago, this receding pattern was reversed.

In the last five days, more than a quarter-million new cases have been registered across the country.

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