WORLD / ASIA-PACIFIC
India records highest spike of daily COVID-19 cases this year, restrictions tightened
Published: Apr 03, 2021 05:39 PM
A woman receives a COVID-19 vaccine at a government hospital in Hyderabad, capital of India's southern state of Telangana on April 1, 2021. (Str/Xinhua)

A woman receives a COVID-19 vaccine at a government hospital in Hyderabad, capital of India's southern state of Telangana on April 1, 2021. (Str/Xinhua)


India's COVID-19 tally rose to 12,392,260 on Saturday as 89,129 new cases were reported from across the country, according to the latest figures released by the federal health ministry.

Besides, 714 deaths were registered, taking the death toll to 164,110.

Both the number of new cases and deaths are the highest this year so far.

A sanitization worker disinfects the tiger enclosure in New Delhi, India, March 31, 2021. (Photo by Partha Sarkar/Xinhua)

A sanitization worker disinfects the tiger enclosure in New Delhi, India, March 31, 2021. (Photo by Partha Sarkar/Xinhua)


A healthcare worker collects a swab from a traveler for COVID-19 test outside a bus station in Bangalore, India, April 1, 2021. (Str/Xinhua)

A healthcare worker collects a swab from a traveler for COVID-19 test outside a bus station in Bangalore, India, April 1, 2021. (Str/Xinhua)


There are still 658,909 active cases in the country, while 11,569,241 people have been discharged from hospitals after medical treatment.

There was an increase of 44,213 active cases during the previous 24 hours, out of which, the maximum cases were reported from the southwestern state of Maharashtra.

The number of daily active cases has been on the rise over the past few days, as another wave of the pandemic looms large in India.

In January, the number of daily cases in the country had come down to below 10,000 as 9,102 new cases were reported between Jan. 25-26.

India kicked off a nationwide vaccination drive in January, and so far over 73 million people have been vaccinated across the country.

Meanwhile, the federal government has ramped up testing facilities across the country, and more than 246 million tests have been conducted so far.

A total of 246,959,192 tests were conducted till Friday, out of which 1,046,605 tests were conducted on Friday alone, said the latest data issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research on Saturday.

The national capital Delhi, one of the most affected places in the country, witnessed as many as 3,500 new cases and 14 deaths through Friday.

So far 11,050 people have died in the national capital due to COVID-19, confirmed Delhi's health department.