Nearly 20,000 Coronavirus Cases In India In 24 Hours For First Time

Coronavirus cases: The government on Saturday allowed the use of the low-cost steroid drug dexamethasone as an alternative to treat coronavirus patients with moderate and severe symptoms.

India recorded its biggest surge in the number of coronavirus cases in 24 hours with 19,906 new patients on Sunday, taking the total to 5,28,859 infections, the Union Health Ministry said this morning. The country also witnessed 410 COVID-19 related deaths during the period, taking the total number of casualties to 16,095. This is the first time that more than 19,000 fresh infections have been reported in a single day. India is the fourth worst-hit country in the world by the pandemic after the United States, Brazil and Russia.

Here are the top 10 developments on coronavirus cases in India:

This is the fifth consecutive day that coronavirus infections have increased by more than 15,000. There has been a surge of 3,38,324 infections from June 1 till date. The number of active cases stands at 2,03,051, while 3,09,712 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, according to the updated data at 8 am.

Eight states - Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal - had contributed to 85.5 per cent of active caseload and 87 per cent of all COVID-19 related deaths in the country. Of them, Maharashtra (1.59 lakh cases, 7,243 deaths), Delhi (80,188 cases, 2,558 deaths) and Tamil Nadu (78,355 cases, 1,025 deaths) together have 63.7 per cent of the active caseload.

Maharashtra reported over 5,000 cases for the second consecutive day today, taking the state's tally of COVID-19 cases to 1,59,133. With 1,400 new infections, Mumbai's tally has climbed to 74,252. The state has reported 167 COVID-19 related deaths. Of these 86 deaths occurred in the last 48 hours and the rest 81 are from the previous period.

Delhi, the worst-affected city in the country, has over 80,000 infections now. The total number of deaths in the national capital has mounted to 2,558 as the city-state grapples with the shortage of hospital beds. "As some people could not get beds due to the shortage, the death count started rising," Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said.

Amid rising number of cases, the Karnataka government has enforced full lockdown every Sunday from July 5. No activity will be allowed on Sundays, except essential services, the state government announced. The decision was taken after state capital Bengaluru reported 596 positive cases - the highest one-day spike in the city -- on Saturday. The total cases in the southern state have climbed to 11,923; so far 7,287 have recovered and 191 have died.

India has recorded over five lakh confirmed cases since the outbreak began in China in December last year. Of these, 2,03,051 are active cases and 16,095 are deaths linked to the infectious virus. The country has seen a worrying surge in fresh cases over the past two weeks - coinciding with "Unlock1". That number has increased steadily, day-by-day since June 22, when 14,821 new cases were logged.

The government has no plan to defeat the pandemic and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "surrendered" as he refuses to fight coronavirus, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted yesterday as he renewed his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Coronavirus outbreak.

The government on Saturday allowed the use of the low-cost steroid drug dexamethasone as an alternative to methylprednisolone to treat coronavirus patients with moderate and severe symptoms.

India's fight against the pandemic is driven by its people, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday, attributing the "success" against the pandemic to the implementation of the nationwide lockdown in its initial phase. "As against the death rate of 350 individuals per million in the US and over 600 per million in European nations like the UK, Italy and Spain, the rate of fatalities in India is less than 12," PM Modi said at a virtual meeting with Indian-American Doctors in the US.

Global coronavirus cases exceeded 10 million and almost half a million people have lost their lived due to  the virus in seven months according to news agency Reuters. North America, Latin America and Europe each account for around 25% of cases, while Asia and the Middle East have around 11% and 9% respectively, according to the Reuters, which uses government reports. The US, which has reported the most cases of any country at more than 2.5 million, had managed to slow the spread of the virus in May, only to see it expand in recent weeks to rural areas and other places that were previously unaffected.