Heartland states see sharpest rise in weekly Covid-19 cases
Heartland states for the first time during the second wave logged the sharpest rise in Covid-19 cases last week (April 5-11) even as infections surged by a record 70% in the country. Bihar saw the biggest increase, with cases rising more than four...
NEW DELHI: Heartland states for the first time during the second wave logged the sharpest rise in Covid-19 cases last week (April 5-11) even as infections surged by a record 70% in the country. Bihar saw the biggest increase, with cases rising more than four times (334%) as compared with the previous week.
The state registered 14,852 fresh cases during April 5-11, as opposed to 3,422 in the previous week. The surge in Uttar Pradesh was nearly as sharp, with cases rising by 281% over the previous week. UP logged 62,005 fresh cases while the previous week's tally was 16,269.
Several other states in the so-called Hindi belt also saw weekly cases rise alarmingly. Rajasthan recorded a 183% rise while Jharkhand logged a 182% surge, which meant that these states have seen nearly a three-fold increase in fresh cases as compared with the previous week. Uttarakhand, the venue for the ongoing Kumbh, wasn’t far behind with a rise of 175%.
Assam, where voting for a new assembly took place recently, also logged more than a four-fold increase in weekly cases, with 1,689 fresh infections detected during the week as opposed to 407 in the week before.
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In absolute numbers, Maharashtra continued to lead the country by a wide margin. The state added 3,96,648 cases to its tally during the week, registering a rise of 34%. Chhattisgarh was next with 74,251 fresh cases, followed by UP (62,005), Karnataka (50,135) and Delhi (48,783).
Maharashtra also continued to record the highest number of Covid-related deaths, with 2,109 fatalities in the week. Chhattisgarh, where deaths have surged in recent days, was next with 580 fatalities, followed by Punjab (421), UP (273), Karnataka (264), Gujarat (234) and Delhi (202).
On Monday, India reported 1,60,248 new cases, a slight dip from the previous day's tally of nearly 1.7 lakh. Cases dip every Monday due to lower testing and staff shortages over the weekend. The dip was relatively minor and several states such as Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Pondicherry and Bengal continued to witness a surge in cases, indicating that the second Covid wave in the country may not be slowing down yet.
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Meanwhile, the death toll remained high, with 882 fatalities reported in the country on Monday. Sunday had seen a toll of 903, the highest since early October.
