India added over two lakh new Covid cases in the last 24 hours, an unprecedented figure, to take its toll to over 1.4 crore. 

The country has been the world's worst-hit country since April 2, forcing states scrambling to impose curbs to control the virus.

Here are the top 10 updates on coronavirus in India:

With 1,038 people dying in the same time span, the total fatalities rose to 1,73,123. India's tally of more than 1.4 crore Covid cases is the second-highest globally, behind the United States and ahead of Brazil's.

This is fifth straight day of the country seeing over 1.5 lakh new cases and the ninth straight of over one lakh cases. While the United States took 21 days to reach the daily count of two lakh daily cases from one lakh per day, India reached that grim milestone in just 11 days.

In worst-hit Maharashtra and capital Mumbai, restaurants are shut and public gatherings of more than five people are banned. The state reported 58,952 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the tally to 35,78,160, while 278 new fatalities pushed the death count to 58,804.

In terms of the total caseload, Maharashtra is followed by the southern states of Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, West Bengal and Bihar are the nine states that recorded their highest ever cases in the last 24 hours.
Delhi logged 17,282 fresh cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, the highest since the pandemic reached the national capital last year. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold a series of meetings today - first with Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and then with the Health Minister, Chief Secretary, Health Secretary and other top officials, sources said.

Karnataka reported the highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases this year with 11,265 new infections in the last 24 hours, which took the overall count to over 10.94 lakh. The state government has ruled out the possibility of a lockdown and instead, ordered a night curfew until April 20 in seven district headquarters, including capital Bengaluru.

Hundreds of thousands of people continued to throng to the Kumbh Mela in Uttarakhand's Haridwar as officials said the religious gathering will not be cut short due to the rising Covid cases and that it will continue till April 30.

In Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi, the district administration has appealed to both domestic and foreign tourists not to come to the city till the end of April due to the rise in Covid cases. Varanasi logged in 1,585 cases yesterday and has over 10,000 active cases, the third highest in Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow and Prayagraj.

Rajasthan will impose a night curfew from 6 pm to 5 am in the entire state from tomorrow. The state reported 6,200 new Covid cases on Wednesday - including 1,325 from capital Jaipur - with the positivity rate skyrocketing from two per cent last month to nearly eight per cent now.

India, home to the world's biggest vaccine manufacturer, kicked off its inoculation drive in mid-January and has administered more than 11.44 crore shots so far.

Source: NDTV

BDST: 1154 HRS, APR 15, 2021
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