India on Saturday reported 18,327 new coronavirus cases, pushing the country’s tally to 1,11,92,088, data from the health ministry showed. The toll jumped by 108 to 1,57,656.

The country recorded over 18,000 cases after 36 days, according to PTI. On January 29, 18,855 new infections were recorded in a span of 24 hours after which the daily caseload remained below 18,000.

The active cases rose for the fourth consecutive day and stood at 1,80,304, constituting 1.61% of the total infections. The recoveries reached 1,08,54,128.

Nearly 15 lakh people were inoculated against the disease on Friday – highest number in a day so far. A total of 14,92,201 vaccine doses were given on the 49th day of the vaccination drive. With this, 1,94,97,704 vaccine doses have been administered through 3,57,478 sessions, as per the provisional report till Saturday 7 am.

A total of 22,06,92,677 samples have been tested for the coronavirus, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research. As many as 7,51,935 were tested on Friday.

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

Maharashtra on Friday reported 10,216 new cases of coronavirus , taking the overall tally to 21,98,399. This was the first time in five months that cases surged past 10,000 in the state. The toll rose to 52,393, with 53 more fatalities.

Meanwhile, Delhi reported 312 new cases. This is the highest number of daily infections in nearly one-and-a-half months. The total cases in the city went up to 6,40,494, while the active cases stood at 1,779. With three deaths, the toll jumped to 10,918.

On Friday morning, the Centre said that six states – Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat, Punjab, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu – accounted for 84% of the new cases the previous day. Overall, the country reported 16,838 new coronavirus cases, pushing the country’s tally to 1,11,73,761.

Global updates

  1. Globally, the coronavirus has infected more than 11.60 crore people and killed over 25.79 lakh, according to John Hopkins University. Over 6.55 crore people have recovered from the infection in the world.
  2. Democrats in the United States Senate said they had resolved their differences over unemployment aid in President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus financial package, Reuters reported. The deal would scale back the level of jobless benefits provided in the version of the bill that was passed in the House of Representatives last week, and set up new tax breaks for people receiving them, according to Democratic aides.
  3. World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the normal rules of business that protect the profits of vaccine manufacturers will have to be set aside if that is what it takes to ensure everybody is immunised against the coronavirus, The Guardian reported.