India records 46,951 new COVID-19 cases, 212 deaths

New Delhi, Mar 22: As many as 46,951 more people tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative tally to 1,16,46,081, said the Union health ministry on Monday.

The number of fatalities crossed the 200-figure for the first time since January 12. While, the active caseload in the country was logged at 334,646.

This is the highest jump in fresh infections the country has seen since late November last year. Over the past week, India has seen the sharpest surge in Covid-19 cases in the last 10 months.

Maharashtra continues to be the biggest contributor to the daily count as the state recorded 30,535 new Covid-19 cases, the highest one-day rise since the pandemic began last year in the last 24 hours.

The daily rise in infections was the highest recorded in 130 days, while the death toll increased to 1,59,967 with 212 daily new fatalities, the highest in 72 days, the data updated at 8 am showed.

As many as 47,905 new infections were recorded in a span of 24 hours on November 12.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,11,51,468 and the case fatality rate has further dropped to 1.37 per cent, the data stated.

India''s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

According to the ICMR, 23,44,45,774 samples have been tested up to March 21 with 8,80,655 samples being tested on Sunday.

The 212 new fatalities include 99 from Maharashtra, 44 from Punjab, 13 from Kerala and 10 from Chhattisgarh.

A total of 1,59,967 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 53,399 from Maharashtra, 12,599 from Tamil Nadu, 12,434 from Karnataka, 10,956 from Delhi, 10,306 from West Bengal, 8,759 from Uttar Pradesh and 7,189 from Andhra Pradesh.

The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.