India sees sharpest 5-day rise in Covid cases in 10 months

India sees sharpest 5-day rise in Covid cases in 10 months

Maha Records All-Time Peak In Daily Cases

Amit.Bhattacharya@timesgroup.com

19.03.2021 

Over the past five days, India has seen the sharpest surge in Covid-19 infections in at least the last 10 months, with the seven-day rolling average of daily cases rising by as much as 39% during this period.

The count of daily cases almost touched 40,000 on Thursday, with 39,670 fresh infections recorded in the past 24 hours. This was the highest single-day tally of cases since November 28 last year. Maharashtra logged its highest-ever daily case count of 25,833, while 15 other states/Union territories reported their highest singleday tallies since January or earlier. In the last five days, the seven-day average of daily cases has been growing by over 5% every day. The growth rates during this period have been 5.2%, 5.8%, 6.6%, 7.4% and 8.7%. This is the sharpest rise in daily cases sustained over a period of five days in TOI's records going back to the first week of May.

1,488 +ve cases in Karnataka; 5 clusters in B’luru

Karnataka reported 1,488 fresh Covid-19 cases on Thursday, with Bengaluru alone accounting for 925 of them. At least five cluster outbreaks — three of them in Yelahanka zone — have been reported from Bengaluru.

N Manjunatha Prasad, BBMP commissioner, said irresponsible behaviour on the part of people and those with travel history are adding to the rise in cases. “Nearly 12% of fresh cases in the city are those with travel history or those who attended functions or visited malls,” Prasad said. In Belagavi, a 69-year-old gram panchayat member from Katakat village in Belagavi district died a day after his vaccination. P 2

Seven-day rolling average of daily deaths crosses 150

Previously, daily growth of over 5% was seen for a maximum of four days, from May 19 to 22. Deaths have also been rising but not at the same pace as the spurt in cases. India reported 154 fatalities from the virus on Thursday, the third successive day of 150-plus toll in the country.

The seven-day rolling average of daily deaths crossed 150 on Thursday for the first time since January 23. Not just Maharashtra, the case count in Mumbai too smashed its previous single-day tally. Mumbai posted 2,877 new infections, more than its previous high of 2,848 cases recorded on October 10, 2020. The silver lining was that Thursday’s Covid-19 deaths in the state were eight times lower than on September 11.

Infections were surging in most states outside the northeast, and places such as Odisha and Bihar. Punjab reported 2,387 fresh cases, the highest tally in the state since September 19. The UT of Chandigarh also reported its highest tally of cases (211) since September 25.