New Delhi, June 28:

India recorded its biggest surge in the number of coronavirus cases in 24 hours for a second consecutive day with 19,906 new patients, taking the total to 528,859 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 due to the virus 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.
87 per cent of all COVID-19 related deaths in the country have been reported from eight states, the government said yesterday as the country’s COVID-19 tally crossed the five lakh mark. The government has allowed the use of the low-cost steroid drug dexamethasone, used to reduce inflammation in other diseases such as arthritis, as an alternative to treat coronavirus patients with moderate and severe symptoms.

Maharashtra recorded 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.