NEW DELHI: After a steady decline in new Covid cases for the past several weeks, India’s daily infections witnessed a 90 per cent jump on Monday as 16 states reported a slight increase in numbers in the last 24 hours.
As many as 2,183 new Covid cases have been recorded over the past 24 hours, an 89.8 per cent jump from Sunday’s case count of 1,150 cases. While Delhi, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra and Mizoram continued to report a spike in Covid cases, the states that reported a slight uptick are Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha, as per the Union health ministry data. Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur also saw a minor rise in Covid cases.
According to the health ministry data, 214 deaths have been recorded over the past 24 hours. Of the total deaths, 213 deaths were reported from Kerala — a backlog of 62 deaths cleared following court appeals plus 150 deaths between April 13 and April 16. It reported a single death on April 17.
The daily positivity rate, which indicates the spread of the infection, has also increased from 0.31 per cent on Sunday to 0.83 percent. However, the number of active cases has seen a slight dip from 11,558 to 11,542.
Dr Ambarish Dutta, additional professor, Indian Institute of Public Health, Bhubaneswar-Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), said 16 states showed an uptick in Covid numbers. Still, six states, which the Union health ministry has already sounded out, are seeing a continuous spike.