Covid Surge: Highest one-day rise in cases since September 2022, Mask advisory issued

India on Wednesday reported 4,435 new Covid-19 cases, the highest single-day jump since September 2022, according to the Union ministry of Health and Family Affairs.

The number of active cases stands at 23,091. With the surge in the past 24 hours, the tally has climbed to 4,47,33,719. Also, 15 deaths reported during the same time span has pushed the toll to 5,30,916.

Though no severity has been witnessed in Covid-19 cases reported in the past few days, the spike nevertheless calls for precautions.

Officials have asked people to mask up when they move around in public places and avoid crowded places both indoors and outdoors.

As per the ministry data, the national Covid recovery rate was pegged at 98.76 per cent. While one death each was reported from Delhi, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Karnataka, Puducherry and Rajasthan, four each were reconciled by Maharashtra and Kerala.

Lucknow has reported the highest single-day Covid-19 spike of the year with 15 new cases among individual cities in the country. With this, the number of active cases stands at 70 in Lucknow.

Previously, 17 Covid cases were reported on October 26 last year in a single day. Among the 15 new cases, the highest came from Aliganj where four men and two women were diagnosed with infection.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Manoj Agrawal said: "We are focusing on contact tracing to nip virus transmission in the bud. For every one positive case, around 50 odd persons are being tested. People should start following Covid-19 protocols."

The positivity rate (positive samples per 100 tests) has also gone up from 0.6 to 1.1 in 15 days.

(With inputs from IANS)