India records 1,52,879 new Covid-19 cases, highest single-day surge

NEW DELHI : In the highest single-day spike, India reported more than 1.52 lakh new Covid-19 cases on Sunday. This is the fifth consecutive day when more than one lakh cases have been reported in the country.
According to the Union Health Ministry, the country recorded 1,52,879 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. With this, the total number of infections has reached 1,33,58,805 in India.
With 839 new Covid-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the toll in the country has mounted to 1,69,275.
Currently, there are 11,08,087 active cases in the country.
As many as 90,584 people were discharged or recovered on Thursday taking the total number of recoveries to 1,20,81,443.
The previous high was recorded on Saturday when the country reported 1,45,384 fresh Covid positive cases in a single day.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 14,12,047 samples were tested for COVID-19 infection on Saturday. With this, the total samples tested in the country reached 25,66,26,850.
The cumulative number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in India crossed the 10 crore mark and as many as 10,15,95,147 people have been vaccinated against Covid-19 in the country so far.
Meanwhile, the four-day-long ‘Tika Utsav’, a mass Covid-19 vaccine programme, has started in the country on Sunday (Jyotirao Phule’s birth anniversary) to April 14 (B R Ambedkar’s birth anniversary), following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for the same
From April 2, the government started vaccinating all people above 45 years. India started its vaccination drive on January 16 with priority given to all healthcare and frontline workers in the first phase. The second phase started on March 1 where doses were administered to people above the age of 60 and those between 45 and 59 years with specific comorbidities. (Agency)