India reports near 40K new COVID-19 infections, 154 deaths in last 24 hours

India on Friday reported 39,726 new COVID-19 cases and 154 fatalities in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry. Ministry stated that the surge in cases is the highest single-day rise recorded this year.

Recoveries from the viral disease also continue to rise, as per the data, as 20,654 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours, taking total recovered cases to 11,083,679 or 96,41% of the total caseload. Active caseload, meanwhile, reached 271,282, a rise of 18,918 cases, contributing 2.20% of the infection tally.

This is the ninth day in a row that more than 20,000 new daily coronavirus cases have been detected in the country.

There were 154 more Covid-19 related deaths, down from those recorded in previous rise, taking the death toll to 159,370 or 1.39% of total cases.

The health ministry said 3,93,39,817 people have been vaccinated so far. Maharashtra which has been the hardest-hit state due to the virus reported 25,833 new coronavirus cases with 58 deaths in the last 24 hours.

The death toll in Maharashtra due to the virus has now risen to 53,138. The total active COVID-19 cases in the state stands at 1,66,353 with total cases going up to 23,96,340.

India’s Covid-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.