India’s Coronavirus tally rose to 2,97,535 on Friday, according to the ministry of health data. Out of this, 1,41,842 are active cases and 1,47,194 people have been cured. The death toll due to the virus has reached 8,498 in the country.
Recording the biggest single-day jump so far, India reported 10,956 new Coronavirus cases and 396 deaths in the last 24 hours.
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Meanwhile, with the latest spike in cases, India has pushed back the United Kingdom to be the fourth worst hit nation. Up till Thursday afternoon, the UK was at the fourth spot with 2,92,860 cases. Now only Russia, Brazil and the US are ahead of India.
What is even more disturbing is the fact that while India entered the list of top 10 worst-hit countries on May 24, it took only 18 days to reach the fourth slot, thus implying that the Coronavirus positive cases have been increasing more and more rapidly.
The spike in cases has pushed states to seek isolation coaches from the Indian Railways to accommodate patients and avoid overwhelming the health infrastructure. The Centre has warned that five most affected states, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, going by current trends, are projected to fall short in terms of ICU beds and ventilators between June and August.
Despite rise in the total number of Coronavirus cases, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has termed the lockdown phases as “successful” in containing the rapid spread of the virus, rejecting there is “community transmission” in India.
The surge of cases has come amidst the world’s biggest lockdown.
The Central government had on Thursday reiterated that India is not yet in the stage of community transmission of Coronavirus.
Meanwhile, World Health Organisation has said the Coronavirus cases jumped from 100,000 to 200,000 in Africa shows just how quickly the pandemic is accelerating on the continent. According to an AFP tally, Africa topped the 200,000 mark on Tuesday.
Globally, 7,500,777 confirmed Coronavirus infections have been reported according to Johns Hopkins University data. There have been 420,993 known deaths so far.