Amid spike in Coronavirus cases, India on Sunday recorded close to 49,000 (48,661) cases in the last 24 hours taking the total tally to over 13.85 lakh cases while the death toll crossed 32,000 (32,063) with 675 deaths in just one hour.

According to the Ministry of Health’s data, total number of cases in India reached 13,85,522 of which 32,063 people have lost their lives while 8,85,577 have recovered.

The total number of active cases are 4,67,882 cases. Maharashtra remained the worst hit state after recording a single-day spike of 9,251 cases taking the state’s tally to 3,66,368 of which 13,389 people have died of the deadly disease.

For the second consecutive day, Maharashtra notched a decline in Covid-19 cases and deaths, though Mumbai’s death toll crossed the 6,000 mark while over 2 lakh persons were cured till Saturday, health officials said.

The number of deaths in the state continued to remain in the 200-plus range with 257 fatalities notched on Saturday. However, this was lower than the single day’s record toll of 298 recorded on July 23.

Although, the state’s recovery rate increased for the second day from 55.99 per cent to 56.55 per cent on Saturday, while the current mortality rate stood at 3.65 per cent.

Maharashtra is followed by Tamil Nadu (2,06,737), Delhi (1,29,531), Karnataka (90,942) and Andhra Pradesh (88,671).

The national capital recorded a single-day spike of 1,142 cases taking the tally beyond 1.29 lakh cases of which 12,657 were active cases as 3,806 people died and 1,13,068 were cured and discharged.

A pall triggered by the death of six persons in Goa, the highest number of Covid-19 fatalities in the state in a day — on Saturday, may cast an uneasy shadow on the one-day assembly session, which begins on Monday, with a united Opposition preparing to slam Chief Minister Pramod Sawant-led government over alleged mismanagement of the Covid-19 crisis.

Gujarat saw another 1,081 Covid cases on Saturday, the highest daily spike so far, taking its tally to 54,712, while the toll rose to 2,305 with 22 more deaths.

Gujarat has recorded 22,069 cases in July so far, with an daily average of over 880 cases, though in this week, the number of cases has been in four figures.

Meanwhile, Coronavirus is now rapidly spreading in the jails of Uttar Pradesh. A day after 128 inmates in Jhansi jail tested positive for Covid-19, as many as 228 inmates in Ballia district jail have been found to be infected with the deadly virus.

Jail superintendent Prashant Kumar Maurya said, “The infected prisoners have been accommodated in separate barracks in the jail. They are being given medication and food as per the instruction of the health department.”

Late on Saturday, after statistics released by the Health Ministry revealed the state’s highest per-day toll of Covid-19 deaths, Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat questioned the rationale behind the government’s hurry to pass the budget during the daylong session, as against conducting a discussion on the Covid-19 scenario in Goa.

States and Union Territories which recorded less than 1,000 cases were Andaman and Nicobar Islands (290), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (860), Chandigarh (852), Mizoram (361), Meghalaya (646) and Sikkim (499).

Meanwhile, globally India remained the third worst-hit nation in the world. While the United States remained the worst-hit country with 41,78,021 cases followed by Brazil which has 23,94,513 infections.

The total casualties across the globe reached 6,44,528 with 1,46,460 alone in the United States followed by 86,449 in Brazil.

(With IANS inputs)