The number of coronavirus cases in India has crossed eight lakh with 7,484 cases added in the last 24 hours. The cases went from seven lakh to eight lakh in three days and now stand at 8,01,286. Maharashtra has the highest cases with 2,30,599, followed by Tamil Nadu with 1,30,261 and Delhi with 1,07,051. Maharashtra is still grappling with a shortage of life saving drugs like Remdesivir and Tocilizumab which have been effective in the treatment of COVID-19. The state government says they are addressing the shortage and have been in touch with suppliers to boost supplies. India is the country with the third-highest coronavirus caseload in the world after the United States and Brazil.
Tamil Nadu’s capital Chennai accounts for 58.2 per cent of the cases in the state. While Chennai has seen a dip in the number of cases, Madurai has seen a five-fold rise in COVID-19 cases in the last 16 days.
A lockdown will be imposed in Uttar Pradesh from 10 pm on Friday night to Monday morning because of the spiralling COVID-19 cases in the state. Only essential services will be allowed during the lockdown, the state government said. This is the first time the state government is going for a blanket lockdown since the centre started lifting the restrictions in May.
Eight states, including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Karnataka and Telangana, account for around 90 per cent of the active COVID-19 cases in the country and 80 per cent of the active cases have been reported from 49 districts, the Group of Ministers (GoM) on COVID-19 was informed on Thursday.