Corona Updates You Must Track: PM Modi Asks 5 States To Ramp Up Testing, India Records Over 60,000 Cases In A Day

India cases and toll: India’s coronavirus count rose to 23,29,638 on Wednesday morning. In the last 24 hours, the country recorded 60,963 coronavirus cases and 834 deaths. There was a marginal dip in fresh cases the previous day—53,601 cases were reported on Monday. India currently has 6,43,948 active cases of coronavirus while 16,39,599 people have recovered from the illness and 46,091 succumbed to it, as per the data provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

A record 7,33,449 tests for COVID-19 were conducted on Tuesday. Previously, more than 7 lakh COVID-19 tests were conducted on Saturday. On most days, India is conducting more than 6 lakh tests for COVID-19 daily.

Ramp up testing, PM Modi tells CMs: In a virtual meeting with the chief ministers of 10 states that together account for 80 per cent of the active COVID-19 cases in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday stressed on the need to ramp up testing. He laid a special emphasis on Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, West Bengal and Telangana. The other states that were part of the meeting included Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.  

Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh remain top contributors: After a marginal decline in daily cases on Monday, both Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh recorded a surge on Tuesday. Of Maharashtra’s 5,35,601 cases of coronavirus, 11,088 were recorded in the last 24 hours. With 256 deaths on Tuesday, the state’s COVID-19 toll has reached 18,306. South Africa, which is no.5 on the global list of worst-affected countries by the coronavirus, has recorded 5,66,109 cases and 10,751 deaths, as per Worldometer.

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh added 9,024 cases of coronavirus to its tally in the last 24 hours. With this, the state’s count has surged to 2,44,549 with 87,597 active cases and 1,54,749 recoveries. The death toll has climbed to 2,203 with 87 people losing their lives to the infection or co-morbidities in the last 24 hours.

COVID-19 tracker for 12 August. Source: Twitter/@COVIDNewsByMIB

Uttar Pradesh, Bihar show spike in cases: Uttar Pradesh, which has been recording over 4,000 coronavirus cases daily since the last few days, reported 5,041 cases on Tuesday. The state’s COVID-19 tally is climbing steadily and has now reached 1,31,763, which includes 2,176 fatalities. A total of 56 people succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours. The state has 48,998 active cases of coronavirus against 80,589 recoveries.

Bihar too is reporting a surge in daily cases with the state adding 3,863 fresh cases of coronavirus to its tally on Tuesday. Bihar’s coronavirus tally stands at 86,413 with 29,291 active cases, 56,709 recoveries and 413 deaths.

Global corona update: The global coronavirus tally has surged to 2,05,25,986 with 1,34,47,901 recoveries and 7,45,971 deaths, according to Worldometer. Of the 63,32,114 infected patients, 64,666 are in critical condition.

The US is leading the table with 53,05,957 coronavirus cases, including 1,67,749 deaths. There has been a gradual decline in daily cases—from more than 70,000 cases a day a few weeks ago, the US is now recording 40,000-55,000 cases every day. Brazil, which is currently the second worst-hit country by the virus, has recorded 31,12,393 coronavirus cases with 1,03,099 deaths.