Coronavirus crisis in India: Highest spike of nearly 16,000 new cases in 24 hours; total tally surges to 4.56 lakh

India, on Wednesday, witnessed almost 16,000 new cases of coronavirus as per the latest data by the Union Health Ministry. The country reported 15,968 positive cases and 465 deaths in the last 24 hours. With this, the country's coronavirus tally has surged to 4.56 lakh, including 1.83 lakh active cases, 2.58 recovered patients, and 14,476 deaths.

During the last 24 hours, a total of 10,495 COVID-19 patients have recovered, taking the recovery rate to around 56.70 per cent. The mortality rate stands at 3.11 per cent.

Of the 465 fresh fatalities reported till Wednesday morning,  248 were in Maharashtra, 68 in Delhi, 39 in Tamil Nadu, 26 in Gujarat, 19 in Uttar Pradesh, 11 in West Bengal, nine each in Rajasthan and Haryana, eight each in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, four each in Punjab and Madhya Pradesh, three in Telangana, two each in Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha and Uttarakhand. Kerala, Bihar and Puducherry have reported one COVID-19 fatality each.

In terms of active cases, Maharashtra's overall cases have reached 1,39,010. The state is the worst-affected and has recorded 6,531 deaths. Delhi's overall figures are similar to Maharashtra's active cases. The national capital has reported 66,602 cases, including 24,988 active cases, 39,313 discharged and 2,301 deaths.

Tamil Nadu is a close second to Delhi. The state has 64,603 total cases, including 28,431 active cases, 35,339 discharges and 833 deaths.

There are nine states that have recorded more than 10,000 cases including West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, and Delhi. Andhra Pradesh with 9,372 cases, Karnataka with 9,721, and Telangana with 9,553 are rapidly moving towards the 10,000 cases mark.

Andaman and Nicobar, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Meghalaya and Sikkim are the only four states and Union Territories that have fewer than 100 cases.

Yesterday, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) revealed that a total of  73,52,911 samples were tested till June 23, and 2,15,195 samples were tested in the last 24 hours.

Moreover, the ICMR approved the 1,000th testing laboratory, while the number of RT-PCR tests for detection of the disease crossed the seven million-mark. Out of the 1,000 COVID-19 testing laboratories, 730 are in government setups and 270 laboratories are in the private sector.

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