India witnesses 2020 single-day COVID-19 deaths, new cases lowest in 118 days

India saw 31,443 new infections in the last 24 hours and now has 4,31,315 active coronavirus cases.

File Photo (Reuters)

New Delhi: While the number of daily COVID-19 cases saw the lowest rise in 118 days, India witnessed a huge jump in single-day deaths in the last 24 hours. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday (July 13, 2021) morning, the country recorded 2020 new fatalities and 31,443 infections. 

With this, the total number of coronavirus-related fatalities in the country has increased to 4,10,784. However, the active caseload has now touched the lowest mark in nearly 110 days and stands at 4,31,315.

The national weekly positivity rate has now declined to 2.28 per cent, whereas, the daily positivity rate stands at 1.81 per cent. 

On the other hand, 49,007 people also recovered in the last 24 hours and took the recovery rate to 97.28 per cent. So far, India has registered 3,00,63,720 recoveries. 

The sudden increase in daily deaths comes on a day when World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned of the  'devastating outbreaks' caused by the Delta variant of COVID-19, which was first identified in India only. He said that the new strain of the virus was infecting people 'at a scorching pace'. 

"The Delta variant is ripping around the world at a scorching pace, driving a new spike in cases and deaths," the WHO chief told a media briefing on the COVID-19 situation.

"We continue to hear reports from all regions of the world about hospitals reaching capacity. The Delta variant is ripping around the world at a scorching pace, driving a new spike in #COVID19 cases and death"-@DrTedros https://t.co/0JJXTNPIP5 — World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) July 12, 2021

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to hold a virtual meeting with the chief ministers of eight northeastern states on Tuesday to discuss the COVID-19 situation.

This is to be noted that while most parts of the country have seen a steady decline in the COVID-19 numbers, the northeast region is seeing the number of infections either rising or not falling in line with the nationwide trend.