Coronavirus outbreak: India crosses 50-lakh mark as the country records 90,000 new cases

New Delhi, Sep 16: Union Health Ministry on Wednesday said that India's coronavirus cases tally crossed the 50-lakh mark with a spike of 90,123 cases and 1,290 deaths in the last 24 hours.

As on Wednesday, the novel coronavirus case tally stands at 50,20,360 including 9,95,933 active cases, 39,42,361 cured/discharged/migrated and 82,066 deaths, as per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

On Tuesday, the country reported a spike of 83,000 new coronavirus cases, taking the country's total case tally past 49 lakh.

It can be seen that Maharashtra continued to be the worst affected state in India as it continues to witness a sharp rise in daily cases. Delhi is also witnessing a sharp spike over the past few weeks.

On Monday, the government said India has been managing the COVID-19 crisis well and more efforts will be taken as the situation evolves. Meanwhile, the government is now considering granting an emergency authorisation for coronavirus vaccine to prevent the elderly and vulnerable.

"If there is a consensus we may go ahead with it, especially in the case of senior citizens and people working in high-risk settings," health minister Harsh Vardhan had said.

It can be seen that Maharashtra's highest death toll reported on Tuesday with 515 COVID deaths. The state crossed 30,000 fatalities on the day. The number of fatalities continues to be a concern for state authorities as it is still the highest in the country.

The numbers show that the state's contribution to total COVID-19 casualties is around 37.64 per cent, with 80,776 deaths reported across the country.

The state's overall positivity rate is hovering over 20 per cent --Tuesday saw a positivity percentage of 23.28 per cent. The state tested 87,944 samples of which 20,482 were positive. So far, the state has tested over 5,400,000 samples (5,409,060).