India saw its Covid-19 tally jump by another 22,752 in the last 24 hours to reach 7,42,417. According to the Union health ministry data at 8 am, the number of active cases in the country are 2,64,994 and 4,56,830 patients have been cured or discharged.
The total number of fatalities has now reached 20,642 after 482 people died in the last 24 hours, the health ministry data showed.
The government, however, said on Tuesday that the total number of coronavirus infections and fatalities per million population in the country are among the lowest in the world.
The health ministry said that India’s recovered cases per million population is more than active Covid-19 cases per million. It credited the states and Union Territories for early identification and effective management of the coronavirus cases.
Among the worst-affected states, Delhi accounts for the highest 3497.1 recovered cases per million as against 1242.9 active cases per million, followed by Maharashtra having 869.5 recovered cases per million as against 661.6 active cases per million, according to health ministry. Tamil Nadu has 753.0 recovered cases per million as against 529.8 active cases per million, while the respective numbers for Haryana are 480.9 and 140.4.
Telangana and Karnataka have contributed majorly to the alarming rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in the country, according to HT’s analysis of 20 worst-hit states in India. HT’s analysis focused on three parametres – high growth rate, high positivity rate, and at least one large urban centre which sees a significant concentration of cases – to identify regions that are exhibiting signs that they may become the next hotspots.
Both the states have highest growth rate of cases and high positivity rates.
With 25,733 Covid-19 cases as of Tuesday, Telangana has reported 1,219 new cases every day on average over the last two weeks. Karnataka, with 25,317 cases, has reported the fastest growth of cases in the country. In the last two weeks, it reported 1,137 new cases every day against 260 in the two weeks before that.
The Centre, meanwhile, removed masks and sanitisers from the purview of the Essential Commodities Act on Tuesday, citing the absence of reports of shortages of such items from anywhere in the country.
The items were brought under the purview of this law in March when demand for them outstripped supply, with an eye on capping prices.
Since late March, companies have significantly increased production of sanitisers. The emergence of two- and three-ply cloth masks as adequate protection has also played a role in ensuing adequate supply.
