India’s Covid-19 tally reaches 246,628, death toll at 6,929

India on Sunday reported 9,971 new cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and 287 deaths, another highest spike, were recorded in the last 24 hours, the Union health ministry data showed.

With a tally of 246,628 infections, India is now the fifth worst-hit country in the world after the United States, Brazil, Russia and the United Kingdom, according to America’s Johns Hopkins University.

The surge in numbers comes a day before several public places, such as places of worship, shopping malls and restaurants, are scheduled to open on Monday.

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This is also the fourth straight day India has seen more than 9,000 cases in a row.

There are 120,406 active Covid-19 cases and 6,929 people have been killed after contracting the highly infectious disease, according to the health ministry’s dashboard.

With 119,292 patients were cured of Covid-19, India’s recovery rate has now gone up to 48.36%.

According to available data, the recovery rate has nearly doubled from 24.5% on April 29.

A senior health ministry official has said the recovery rate indicates the country is managing the disease well and pointed out that the number of serious cases, requiring a ventilator, is also not very high.

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Ten states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka and Bihar with the highest number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) account for 84% of the country’s tally and 95% of the fatalities, data shows.

Maharashtra has 82,968 Covid-19 cases and 2,969 people from the state have succumbed to the disease. Tamil Nadu has more than 30,000 people who have contracted the coronavirus disease and 251 have died.

The national capital of Delhi is the third worst-affected region with 27,654 patients and 761 fatalities. Gujarat is inching towards the 20,000-mark with 19,592 cases. It has reported the deaths of 1,219 people so far.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has ramped up testing capacity for Covid-19. The number of government testing labs has increased to 520, and the number of private labs testing for Covid-19 to 222 across the country from about 100 at the start of March.

“We have a target of increasing our (daily) testing capacity to two lakh by the end of June, and we are well on the path to achieve this. The testing capacity has been ramped up in no time and many more labs have been identified and are in the process of being approved for Covid testing,” Dr Rajnikant Srivastava, a spokesperson for ICMR, said.

The health ministry has released detailed standard operating procedures (SOPs) for public and semi-public premises where Covid-19 has a higher chance of spreading such as shopping malls, food courts, hotels and restaurants, places of worship and offices.