Southern states continued reporting high coronavirus caseloads, with Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka seeing biggest single day spikes yet again, while there was no sign of the pandemic abating in Andhra Pradesh, which recorded yet another day of 7,000 plus cases. Tamil Nadu crossed the grim milestone of 2 lakh cases, although cured persons outnumbered the active cases.
India reported 48,661 coronavirus cases in the 24 hours till Sunday, with the total number of cases touching 13,85,522. The death tally has touched 32,063, with 705 deaths in the last 24 hours.
At the same time, fresh studies have given rise to concerns that there could be a mid-monsoon spike in cases. A study conducted jointly by researchers at IIT-Bhubaneswar and the AIIMS has shown that the spread of COVID-19 may pick up pace during peak monsoon and winter, owing to a fall in the mercury. The rainfall, decrease in temperatures and cooling of the atmosphere, coupled with progression towards winter, may environmentally favour the spread of COVID-19 in the country, according to the study led by V. Vinoj, Assistant Professor of the School of Earth, Ocean and Climatic Sciences at IIT-Bhubaneswar.
Kerala witnessed its highest single day spike so far, recording 1,103 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the infection count to 18,098. Over 1.5 lakh persons are under observation. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan accused the opposition parties of 'trying to sabotage' the state government's COVID-19 mitigation methods and said they always challenged the health system.
The chief minister lashed out at the opposition for alleging that the rise in the number of cases in the southern state was due to lapses of the government. He noted that the opposition parties initially complained that the government was showing less number of cases, but were now blaming them for the rise in it. "We created a system to regularise the entry of people to the state to control the spread of the virus. But they tried to sabotage it. Some people are continuing to mislead the public through their propaganda."
Meanwhile, Karnataka's single day tally on Saturday stood at 5,072, with nearly half of the cases coming from capital Bengaluru urban alone. Karnataka saw 5,072 cases and 72 related fatalities, pushing the total beyond 90,000 while the casualties stood at 1,796, the health department said. Out of the 5,072 fresh cases, 2,036 cases were from Bengaluru urban alone.
Second after Maharashtra in the total number of cases, Tamil Nadu faced its biggest daily spike of 6,988 fresh infections that pushed the tally to 2,06,737. The state's first COVID-19 case was reported in March, a 45-year-old man from Kancheepuram who had returned from Oman. Tamil Nadu crossed the one lakh mark on July 3 and sailed past 1.50 lakh positive cases on July 15. Though the state had initially reported low numbers and even seemed to be heading towards flattening the curve, two clusters led to fast spread of the pandemic, putting Tamil Nadu among the worst affected states. The death toll climbed to 3,409 with 89 fatalities.
Karnataka saw 5,072 cases and 72 related fatalities, pushing the total beyond 90,000 while the casualties stood at 1,796, the health department said. Out of the 5,072 fresh cases, 2,036 cases were from Bengaluru urban alone.
In Andhra Pradesh too, the upward spiral of virus cases continued as another 7,813 were added in a day to take the overall tally to 88,671 on Saturday. The total number of COVID-19 patients discharged so far touched 43,255 and the gross toll was 985. The state now has 44,431 active cases, according to the bulletin.
-Inputs from PTI
