India Reports Record 2.6 Lakh Fresh COVID-19 Cases; 1,493 Fatalities In Past 24 Hours

Further vitiating the already booming active caseload of COVID-19 in the nation, Saturday (17 April) saw the emergence of record 2,60,810 new cases marking the first instance when the single-day tally of fresh cases surged past the 2.5 lakh mark, reports Times of India.

It should be noted that this comes merely three days after the nation had reported more than two lakh cases in a single day for the first time. Saturday’s tally marks a sharp rise of 11.5 per cent over the previous day’s tally of 2.34 lakh. On a day-on-day basis, this marks the first instance of double-digit growth in daily cases in the last four days, indicating that the pandemic's spread is yet to begin to slow down.

Saturday also saw as many as 19 States and Union Territories (UTs) record their highest-ever single-day rise in cases since the onset of the pandemic last year. These were led by Maharashtra which reported 67,123 new cases, followed by Delhi which recorded 24,375 fresh cases.

The day also saw 1,493 fresh COVID-19 deaths across the nation, even though the overall fatality rate at 1.2 per cent continues to be much lower than what was recorded during the peak of the first wave of the pandemic in September last year. Maharashtra alone accounted for 419 COVID-19 deaths reported on Saturday.