In just three days, COVID-19 cases breach the 12-lakh mark in India

With the highest-ever single-day spike of 45,720 cases, India's COVID-19 tally crossed the 12-lakh mark on Thursday, while the death-toll mounted to 29,861 with a record 1,129 fatalities in a day. The country crossed the 12-lakh mark just three days after it crossed the 11-lakh milestone.

The coronavirus caseload in the country surged to 12,38,635, while 7,82,606 people have recovered so far in the country. There are 4,26,167 active cases of coronavirus infection presently in the country. Thus, 63.18 per cent people have recovered so far.

Of the 1,129 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, 518 are from Tamil Nadu, 280 from Maharashtra, 65 from Andhra Pradesh,55 from Karnataka, 39 from West Bengal, 34 from Uttar Pradesh, 29 from Delhi, 28 from Gujarat, 14 from Madhya Pradesh and 10 from Jammu and Kashmir. Telangana and Jharkhand have reported nine fatalities each followed by Haryana with eight deaths, Assam, Punjab and Rajasthan six each, Odisha five, Goa and Uttarakhand two each while Kerala, Puducherry, Tripura and Chandigarh have registered a fatality each.

In Maharashtra, fifth minister in the Uddhav Thackerey Government – Abdus Sattar,  MoS Animal Husbandry – has tested positive for COVID-19.  NCP’s Rajya Sabha MP Fauzia Khan has also tested positive.  In view of rising cases, Kerala has imposed curfew in Aluva Municipality and 7 panchayats from Wednesday. Similarly, Chhattisgarh has re-imposed a seven-day total lockdown in several districts. Jammu and Kashmir administration has imposed a fresh six-day lockdown in view of the novel coronvirus situation.

Haryana Government has decided to declare one Central Jail and three District Jails in the state as Special Jails (Temporary Jails) for confinement of new male prisoners remanded to judicial custody in Haryana till the receipt of their COVID-19 reports.