NEW DELHI: The Covid-19 outbreak in Maharashtra, by far the worst-affected state in the country, turned grimmer on Thursday when it reported an explosion of new cases. As many 778 persons tested positive in the state during the past 24 hours, taking the national count of new cases on Thursday to 1,755, the highest single-day surge so far.
With this, the number of coronavirus cases in India has jumped from 21,358 on Wednesday to 23,113, an 8.2% rise as per latest reports from states. The staggering spike in Maharashtra was not just the highest reported by a state in a day, beating its own previous record of 552, Mumbai too recorded its biggest rise in cases at 522.
While Gujarat too continues to report high numbers (217 new cases), Madhya Pradesh recorded a surge in infections late on Thursday after a relative lull in the past few days, with 184 new cases.
Delhi similarly showed a spike after several days of low numbers, with 128 more people testing positive in the last 24 hours and two deaths.
The number of deaths due to coronavirus has been gradually
