India witnesses sharp spike in new Covid-19 cases; 18,855 infections recorded

India’s latest daily count of cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) witnessed a sharp spike as 18,855 new infections took the country’s tally to 10,720,048, the Union health ministry’s dashboard showed on Friday. In its previous daily count, the country had reported 11,666 cases, meaning that the latest spike is nearly 7,200 infections higher than the previous one.

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Number of recoveries from the disease is closing in on the 10.4 million mark, as 20,746 new discharges took total recovered cases to 10,394,352, the ministry’s dashboard showed. Death toll crossed the 154,000 mark as 163 fresh fatalities took the total number of deaths to 154,010. Active cases, meanwhile, slumped below 172,000 and are at 171,686, a dip of 2,054 cases. Recoveries, active cases and deaths comprise 96.94%, 1.62% and 1.44% respectively of the total cases.

On Friday, the govt-run Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said it had tested 742,306 samples for Covid-19 till January 28, taking the total number of samples tested thus far to 195,081,079.

These latest numbers come in a week India reported its lowest daily count since June 2020; 9,102 cases reported on January 26 was the first time the country had recorded less than 10,000 fresh cases since June 3, 2020, when 8,909 infections were reported. India is currently also in the middle of what is the world’s largest vaccination drive against Covid-19, which commenced on January 16. A total of 2,928,053 healthcare workers have been inoculated thus far, the latest health ministry figures show. India is using Oxford University-AstraZeneca’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech International Limited’s Covaxin against the disease. Both vaccines were approved by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) earlier this month.

India’s caseload of Covid-19 is the second-highest globally, while its death toll is the fourth-highest. The United States has the highest Covid-19 tally in the world, with Brazil in third. The US, Brazil and Mexico, in that order, have recorded the maximum number of deaths due to the disease.