New Delhi: While the US took 21 days to reach the grim milestone, India flagged the 2 lakh count of infections within 11 days in the second wave. With 1,038 people dying in the same time span, the total fatalities rose to 1,73,123. Around 1,99,584 new infections were recorded across the country in the last 24 hours. This is the fifth straight day of the country seeing over 1.5 lakh new cases and the ninth straight of over one lakh cases.  

In Maharashtra, BMC has decided to shut down restaurants and restrict public gatherings to only 5 people after the count multiplied. The state health department announced that it would treat mild covid cases at five-star hotels after 58,952 cases were recorded. The cumulative graph of the state stood at 35,78,160 while the death toll rose to 58,804 after 278 deaths were reported.

 Maharashtra is followed by the southern states of Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, West Bengal, and Bihar are the nine states that recorded their highest ever cases in the last 24 hours. 

Sources reveal, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold a series of meetings today – first with Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and then with the Health Minister, Chief Secretary, Health Secretary, and other top officials. The national capital logged its highest count of the year taking the caseload to 7,44,021.  Karnataka reported the highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases this year with 11,265 new infections in the last 24 hours, which took the overall count to over 10.94 lakh.

The state government ordered a night curfew until April 20 in seven district headquarters, including capital Bengaluru. Rajasthan also joins the force from today evening until 5 am. The state reported 6,200 new Covid cases on Wednesday including 1,325 from capital Jaipur with the positivity rate skyrocketing from two percent last month to nearly eight percent now.