India remained on edge as a record number of new coronavirus cases on Tuesday pushed the nationwide Covid-19 tally closer to the 50,000-mark and the death toll crossed 1,500 with over 190 more fatalities. The number of cases saw a big jump of 3,875 to reach 46,711 cases.
However, a tally of numbers reported by different states and union territories till 10 PM showed at least 49,369 people testing positive for the deadly virus so far, while it put the death toll at 1,621. It also showed more than 13,500 Covid-19 patients having recovered.
Tamil Nadu reported more than 500 new cases on Tuesday, which took its tall past 4,000, while Gujarat also tested 441 more people positive for the virus, taking its total to more than 6,200. Several other states also reported rising numbers. Ahmedabad alone reported 349 new cases and 39 more deaths.
Maharashtra reported 841 new cases and 34 more deaths during the day and its overall tally crossed 1,5500 with over 600 deaths. Delhi reported more than 200 new cases to take its tally to over 5,100, but it did not report any death for the third consecutive day. Experts said the peak of this deadly virus outbreak was yet to come and maybe witnessed in India over the next 4-6 weeks, while another spurt might be seen later during the winter season.
The numbers suggested that more than one-third of the confirmed cases across the country has been detected in the past one week, with only a few urban centres in a handful of states including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi accounting for a bulk of it.
Fears also emerged that India’s tally may increase further with the government announcing plans to bring back a large number of Indians from various countries, beginning Wednesday, in what is being called the world’s biggest-ever evacuation programme. Sources said over 3 lakh people have registered for the evacuation from the Gulf region itself.
While the absolute number of cases and the death toll in India is lower than many others, with more than 2.5 lakh people have lost their lives and over 35 lakh having been infected worldwide ever since the emergence of this virus in China last December, the lockdown restrictions have been lifted in several countries and many of them are now reporting few or zero cases.
