India logs over 24K cases again, infection rate nears 2%

New Delhi, Mar 16: India on Tuesday logged 24,492 cases of Covid-19 and 131 fatalities in the last 24 hours. The cases declined by 1,800 from the previous day, while 13 more deaths were reported, the data shared by the Union Health Ministry showed.On Monday, the country had logged 26,291 cases of Covid-19, the highest tally recorded in 85 days.The cumulative tally of the cases has risen to 1,14,09,831 while the death toll has reached 1,58,856 in India.The infection level in the country is back to last year's December as it has soared to 1.96 from 1.55 per cent in a short interval.As per the Ministry's data, the active caseload in country has reached 2,23,432, rising by over 4,000 cases from previous day.With the discharge of 20,191 patients in a day, a total of 1,10,27,543 persons have been discharged so far.The rise in the number of Covid-19 cases, which had so far appeared confined to Maharashtra and Punjab, is now beginning to show up in several other states.States/UTs such as Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh have had very similar growth trajectories in recent weeks.As the number of Covid-19 cases is rising across the country, the Centre has sounded a word of caution for states which are not yet seeing a surge but are at the threshold.Niti Aayog (health) member V.K. Paul last week said the situation of Maharashtra is worrying as part of the state is going back to strict lockdown. However, he shared his concern for other states as well."Would like to caution Delhi-NCR, Gurugram, part of Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad too to some extend. These areas are seeing a slight rise in the number of cases," Paul had said.The Ministry also informed that 8,73,350 samples were tested on Monday. The cumulative tests done by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) so far stands at 22,82,80,763.So far, 3,29,47,432 doses of corona vaccine have been administered in the country since the drive began on January 16 after approval for 'Covishield' and 'Covaxin'.(IANS)