Maharashtra's daily Covid cases jump 41% to 803; active tally nearly 4,000

Maharashtra recorded 803 new Covid cases and three deaths in the last 24 hours, the health department said on Thursday. Today's number was significantly higher than the 569 new cases on Wednesday. The state has reported a spike of 41 per cent in new infections in just 24 hours. The state recorded 687 recoveries in the same period, which pushed the number of active cases to 3,987. 

Covid cases have been rising in the country in the last few weeks. Today, the country logged 5,335 fresh infection cases, the highest in 195 days. The last time over 5,000 cases were recorded in September last year.

The death toll has increased to 5,30,929 with 13 deaths -- two each reported from Karnataka and Maharashtra, one each from Kerala and Punjab, and seven reconciled by Kerala. The daily positivity rate has been recorded at 3.32 per cent while the weekly positivity rate has been pegged at 2.89 per cent. 

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will chair a high-level meeting with state health ministers on Friday. The virtual meet will also be attended by Empowered Group and NTGAI (National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation ) officials.

On Wednesday, Delhi's Covid positivity rate breached the 25 per cent mark as the city recorded 509 fresh cases in a single day. The positivity rate stood at 26.54 per cent. Delhi had recorded 521 cases on Tuesday, the highest single-day rise since August 27 last year.