Worst spike this year as India reports close to 40k new coronavirus cases

New Delhi: India saw 39,726 new coronavirus infections being reported in the last 24 hours. It is the highest single day rise recorded so far this year. The new coronavirus infections took the nationwide COVID-19 tally to 1,15,14,331, according to Union Health Ministry data updated Friday. Many experts are blaming this spike on the South African and United Kingdom (UK) strain of the virus.

This is the ninth successive day during which the spike in coronavirus cases has been registered. Among the new infections, 25,833 fresh cases have been reported from Maharashtra only. It means that close to 75 per cent of new patients are from Maharashtra only. Even though COVID-19 vaccination is on at full swing in India, the spike in daily cases continues unabated.

The total active coronavirus cases has reached 2,71,282, which now comprises 2.36 per cent of the total infections. The recovery rate has further dropped to 96.26 per cent, the data stated.

The daily rise in infections (39,726) was the highest recorded in 110 days. As total of 41,810 new infections were recorded in a span of 24 hours November 29

The death toll increased to 1,59,370 with 154 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8.00am showed. One good sign is that the death toll is decreasing. It was 188, Wednesday and went down to 172 Thursday.

Also read: India records 35,871 fresh COVID-19 cases, biggest single-day jump in 102 days

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,10,83,679. The case fatality rate (CFR) has further reduced to 1.38 per cent, the data stated.

According to ICMR,  23,13,70,546 samples have been tested up to March 18 with,57,383 samples being tested Thursday.

Government authorities in Maharashtra have said that they are taking all possible measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus. All public gatherings have been banned while night curfew has been enforced in certain districts like Nagpur.