Covid recovery rate dips; Punjab sees 12 fatalities

New Delhi, March 7

India’s active Covid-19 caseload rose for the 11th day today, settling at 1,84,523 even as daily new cases increased by over 18,000 for a second day in a row.

The total cases reached 1,12,10,799 and the recovery rate fell to 96.95% after sustaining beyond 97% for days.

Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu continued to report consistently high new cases and collectively accounted for 84.71% of the 18,711 new daily cases reported in the last 24 hours. India last saw 18,855 infections in a day on January 29. Maharashtra witnessed 10,187 daily new cases over the past 24 hours, followed by Kerala (2,791) and Punjab (1,159). Karnataka (580), Gujarat (571) and Tamil Nadu (562) were close behind.

So far as fatalities go, 100 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours. Six states account for 87% new deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (47), followed by Kerala (16) and Punjab (12). The Health Ministry had yesterday sent teams to Maharashtra and Punjab and the teams have started probing the causes behind the surge although preliminary data suggests the reasons are inappropriate Covid behaviour - marriages, elections, super-spreading events and greater dependence on the antigen test rather than the standard RTPCR test.

Antigen tests are prone to showing false negative reports and the Centre has mandated a negative antigen test report to be cross-checked with an RTPCR test. "That is not happening in many cases and there is a lack of fear of the disease seeing the infections decline. But this can prove costly," a ministry official said. As the share of active cases in total cases rose to 1.65% today, the Centre said 8 states were displaying an upward trajectory in daily new cases. These include Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, MP, Haryana, Delhi, Karnataka and Gujarat. — TNS