India adds over 62,000 COVID-19 cases for second consecutive day, active count nears 5 lakh

India's total coronavirus caseload has now climbed to 1.19 crore.

Representational Image (ANI)

New Delhi: The surge in the COVID-19 cases continued in India as the country added over 62,000 confirmed cases for the second consecutive day, according to the official data released on Sunday (March 28, 2021) morning. There were 62,714 new coronavirus cases in India in the last 24 hours, whereas, 62,258 infections were registered on Saturday.  

India's active coronavirus count is now nearing 5 lakh, whereas, the total caseload has climbed to 1.19 crore. The country also recorded 28,739 discharges and 312 COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours.

So far, there have been a total of 1,19,71,624 coronavirus infections across India, of which, 4,86,310 are active and 1,13,23762 have recovered. India's death toll now stands at 1,61,552.

#CoronaVirusUpdates:

#COVID19 India Tracker
(As on 28 March 2021, 08:00 AM)

➡Confirmed cases: 1,19,71,624
➡Recovered: 1,13,23,762 (94.59%)
➡Active cases: 4,86,310 (4.06%)
➡Deaths: 1,61,552 (1.35%)#IndiaFightsCorona#Unite2FightCorona#StaySafe @MoHFW_INDIA pic.twitter.com/qJOAg0Dg3k — #IndiaFightsCorona (@COVIDNewsByMIB) March 28, 2021

This comes a day after Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan chaired a high-level review meeting with 12 states and UTs that are reporting a surge in cases. 

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), the following states are the most affected by rising cases and rising mortality - Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Punjab and Bihar.

Dr VK Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog was also present during the review meeting.

Through a detailed presentation on Saturday, the MoHFW said that the states were informed that the country has seen the sharpest rise in weekly COVID cases and fatalities since May 2020 (7.7% and 5.1% respectively). The focus was on 46 districts that have contributed 71% of the cases and 69% of the deaths this month. 

As per the MoHFW, almost 90% of the COVID-19 deaths continue to be in the category of those aged above 45 yrs.

Findings of studies were also highlighted which depicted that while 90% of people are aware, only 44% actually wear face masks.

"One infected person could spread COVID-19 to an average of 406 other individuals in a 30-day window without restrictions which could be reduced to just 15 by decreasing physical exposure to 50% and to a further 2.5 (average) by decreasing physical exposure to 75%," the Union Ministry stated on Saturday.

It also said that during the presentation, it was highlighted that the concept of 'second wave' reflected more the laxity among everyone regarding COVID Appropriate Behaviour and COVID containment and management strategy at the ground level.

Hence, stringent action including effective containment and contact tracing for at least 14 successive days in the 46 districts was strongly recommended for breaking the chain of transmission.

Meanwhile, a total of 5,94,92,824 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered across India. 13,83,051 coronavirus vaccine doses were given on Saturday.