India records 2.75 lakh new cases, 1,620 deaths

NEW DELHI , Apr 19
India’s COVID-19 cases tally crossed the 1.5 crore mark on April 18. The country has so far reported a total of 1,50,58,019 cases and 1,78,793 deaths.
The country registered 2,75,196 new COVID-19 cases as of 11.30 p.m. on April 18, the highest single-day rise. As many as 1,620 deaths were also recorded, taking the death toll to 1,78,769.
The 1,619 new fatalities include 503 from Maharashtra, 170 from Chhattisgarh, 161 from Delhi, 127 from Uttar Pradesh, 110 from Gujarat, 81 from Karnataka, 68 from Punjab, 66 from Madhya Pradesh, 50 from Jharkhand, 42 each from Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, 29 from Haryana, 28 from West Bengal and 25 from Kerala.
The 1,78,769 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 60,473 from Maharashtra, 13,351 from Karnataka, 13,113 from Tamil Nadu, 12,121 from Delhi, 10,568 from West Bengal, 9,830 from Uttar Pradesh, 7,902 from Punjab and 7,410 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.
The figures do not include cases and deaths from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Ladakh.
This data is sourced from covid19india.org, an independent aggregator of daily COVID-19 figures.
Maharashtra reported 68,631 infections, accounting for nearly 25% of the new cases, on Sunday, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 30,566 new infections and Delhi with 25,462 new cases.
About 26.84 lakh COVID-19 vaccination doses were administered in the 24 hours ending at 7 am on April 18. It is about 29,000 doses less than what was recorded in the previous 24 hours. Also, it is about 2.5 lakh doses lower than what was recorded on April 11.
As many as 15,66,394 samples were tested in India on April 17 (results of which were made available on April 18), the highest-ever number of tests conducted in a single day in the country. This is the first time the number of daily tests is crossing the 15-lakh mark in India. For the past one week, testing levels have remained high and is on an increasing trend. As of April 17, 26.65 crore tests have been conducted cumulatively in India.
High positivity rate
The daily positivity rate (cases detected per 100 tests) in India in the last 12 days has doubled to 16.7%, while the weekly positivity rate has increased to 13.5% in the past month, the Health Ministry said on April 18.
Chhattisgarh reported the highest weekly positivity rate at 30%, followed by Goa at 24%, Maharashtra at 24%, Rajasthan at 23% and Madhya Pradesh at 19%, according to the Ministry.
The Hindu and The Telegraph