Covid-19: New cases at 2.6 lakh, deaths cross 200 for second consecutive day

NEW DELHI: Fresh Covid-19 cases in India rose 7% to nearly 2.64 lakh on Thursday, a day after a record rise of more than 50,000 had pushed the day's tally to 2.47 lakh.
Deaths from the virus remained relatively low but were rising. With data from Tripura awaited at the time of writing, 218 fatalities were reported on Thursday, the second consecutive day of 200-plus deaths.The cumulative toll in the last seven days has nearly doubled to 1,096 from 562 in the preceding seven days.
India on Thursday had recorded 2,63,488 fresh cases till late at night, with the final tally likely to be close to 2.64 lakh. Apart from Monday when the tally had actually dipped, this was the first time during the third wave when the daily growth in cases fell below 10%.
While Delhi (28,867) and Chennai (8,219) recorded their highest-ever single-day tally of new cases, Mumbai reported a 15% dip in numbers. Cases in Mumbai had risen sharply on Wednesday after four previous days of decline which could indicate a flattening of the curve in the city.
Several states, including Maharashtra (46,406), Punjab (6,083 cases), Jharkhand (4,000), Assam (3,238) and Himachal Pradesh (1,773), reported a slight drop in daily cases.
However, cases continued to surge in Karnataka, which reported 25,005 fresh infections, up from 21,390 on Wednesday. Of these, 18,374 were from Bengaluru alone.
Other states where infections were rising sharply included Tamil Nadu (20,911, up from 17,934), Odisha (10,059, up from 8,778) and Andhra Pradesh (4,348, up from 3,205). Bengal continued to report high numbers, 23,467 cases on Thursday, with Kolkata accounting for 6,768.
While there has been a slowdown in the Covid surge in Maharashtra, deaths have been rising steadily. The state reported 36 fatalities on Thursday, the highest daily toll in months. Bengal recorded 26 deaths while the daily toll in Delhi dropped slightly to 31 from 40 on the previous day. Tamil Nadu recorded 25 deaths, Karnataka eight, and Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Bihar seven each.