A health worker takes a swab sample through the throat of a man during a medical screening for the Covid-19 coronavirus, in Mumbai on July 29, 2020 (AFP)
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NEW DELHI: India recorded the biggest surge in fresh Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, breaching the 52,000-mark for the first time as the disease reached alarming proportions in Andhra Pradesh, which became the only state after Maharashtra where more than 10,000 people tested positive in a single day.
Witnessing a huge surge in the last few days, the state reported 10,093 fresh cases. At this rate, Andhra, at number four with 1,20,390 cases, could go past Delhi’s caseload of 1,33,310 soon to emerge as the third worst-affected state. With 65 fresh deaths, Andhra Pradesh’s toll reached 1,213, making it the eighth worst-affected state.
With 52,898 new cases on Wednesday, India’s caseload stood at 15,83,483 and nearly 10 lakh of these were recorded in the 29 days of this month alone. July has turned out to be the worst month for the country, accounting for 63% of the cases since the pandemic broke. With 771 deaths on Wednesday — the second-highest in a day after 781 deaths on Tuesday — India’s cumulative toll was at 34,950. More than half of these deaths were recorded in July alone.
On the positive side, India crossed the 10-lakh mark in recoveries, with 32,371 patients recovering from the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cured people to 10,19,083.
Maharashtra, which is the worst affected state, breached the four-lakh mark as 9,211 fresh cases took the state’s caseload to 4,00,651. It now has nearly as many cases as Mexico (4,02,697), the sixth worst-affected country in the world. The state recorded 298 deaths, equalling the highest single-day toll of July 23.
The situation in south India continues to be grim. At 92, Karnataka recorded the highest number of deaths on Wednesday among the southern states, followed by Tamil Nadu (82), AP (65) and Telangana (12). Apart from Andhra, at least four more states recorded their highest single-day surges — Rajasthan (1,144 fresh cases), Gujarat (1,114), MP (917) and Jharkhand (791).