India logs 4,000 COVID-19 deaths, 343,144 new cases of infection in last 24 hours

New Delhi, May 14, 2021

India today logged 4,000 deaths due to COVID-19 and 343,144 new cases of infection in the last 24 hours as the continuing spread of the coronavirus disease in many parts of the country, especially in rural areas and small towns, remained a major cause of concern for the people and the authorities.

Though there were some signs that the daily COVID-19 numbers were falling in a few states, the overall numbers remain at high levels, which means that the lockdowns and other restrictions put in place in various states would continue for some more time.

At 4,000, the number of deaths in the last 24 hours was lower than the 4,120 reported yesterday. This is the third consecutive day that India has reported 4,000 or more COVID-19 deaths in a single day. It had registered 4,000-plus deaths earlier on May 8 and 9, too.

The highest number of deaths in a 24-hour period, at 4,205, was posted on May 12.

The number of new cases of infection, at 343,144, was lower than the 362,727 recorded yesterday. This is the fifth consecutive day that the number has remained below the 400,000-mark. The highest number of new cases in a 24-hour period, 414,188, was reported on May 7.

Meanwhile, more and more states have imposed or extended lockdowns or similar restrictions in a bid to contain the spread of the virus.

There has been improvement in the supply of medical oxygen in many places. The Central and State governments as well as other agencies continued to take measures to address various issues like shortages of hospital beds, medicines and so on.

Aid from abroad, in the form of liquid medical oxygen, oxygen concentrators, ventilators, medicines and equipment, has also started to flow in and is making a difference.

Adding to the difficulties of the people is the shortage of vaccines in many places, leading to long queues at several vaccination centres.

Of the 343,144 fresh cases of infection registered in India in the last 24 hours, Maharashtra, by far the worst-hit state, accounted for 42,582, lower than the 46,781 registered yesterday. The state also accounted for 850 of the 4,000 deaths in the country reported today, higher than the 816 recorded yesterday.

Mumbai, the state capital and the financial hub of the country, registered 1,952 new cases, down from 2,104 yesterday. The number of deaths in the city went up to 68 from 66 yesterday.

Among the other districts in the state, there were 77 deaths in Thane, 64 in Nagpur, 62 in Beed, 59 in Nashik, 56 in Pune, 38 in Solapur, 34 each in Jalgaon and Ratnagiri and 32 in Satara.

In national capital Delhi, the number of new infections in the last 24 hours came down to 10,489 from 13,287 reported yesterday, while the number of deaths went up slightly to 308 from 300.

Karnataka, among the most-affected states, recorded 35,297 new cases and 344 deaths in the last 24 hours, as compared to 39,998 cases of infection and 517 deaths registered yesterday.

State capital Bengaluru reported 15,191 new cases of infection and 161 deaths during this period against 16,286 new cases and 275 deaths posted yesterday.

In Kerala, where there has been an uptrend in recent days in the numbers of new cases as well as deaths, 39,955 new cases and a new high of 97 deaths were logged in the last 24 hours.

The number of deaths is marginally more than the previous high of 95 logged yesterday while the number of new cases is lower than the record high of 43,529 posted yesterday.

Aong the other states, Tamil Nadu reported 30,621 new cases, andhra Pradesh 22,399, West Bengal 20,839, Uttar Pradesh 17,745, Rajasthan 15,8867 and Gujarat 10,742.

As far as deaths are concerned, there 297 in Tamil Nadu, 277 in Uttar Pradesh, 195 in Chhattisgarh, 186 in Punjab, 163 in Haryana, 159 in Rajasthan and 129 in West Bengal.

With the latest numbers put out this morning by the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, the death toll in India so far has increased to 262,317 while the total number of cases so far, since the first coronavirus cases were reported in India in late January 2020, has crossed the 24-million mark and reached 24,046,809.

The number of those who have recovered from COVID-19 has gone past 20 million to 20,079,599, up 344,776 from yesterday. The recovery rate has improved to 83.50% from 83.25% yesterday.

The number of active cases fell by 5,632 to 3,704,893 today. The number of active cases had touched 3,745,237 on May 10, the highest since the pandemic began in India. The active caseload had been steadily rising after February 12 this year, when it had touched its lowest mark of 135,26 in recent months, before beginning a downward trend on May 11.

The world has reported a total of 160.833 million cases of COVID-19 so far while the global death toll has climbed past 3.340 million as of this morning, according to data compiled by the Johns Hopkins University in the United States, which is tracking the pandemic.

India ranks second in the world in terms of the total number of infections so far, behind the United States (32.853 million) and ahead of Brazil (15.433 million).

In terms of the number of deaths, the country now ranks third after the US (584,487) and Brazil (430,417).

NNN