India records 1.26 lakh cases, 685 deaths in 24 hrs; New Zealand bars entry of travellers from country

India on Thursday recorded 1,26,789 new COVID-19 cases and 59,258 discharges.
As per updates from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, total cases in India at present stand at 1,29,28,574, total recoveries at 1,18,51,393 and active cases at 9,10,319.

Thursday’s surge of 126,315 Covid-19 cases is the biggest-ever daily surge. Active cases have crossed the 900,000-mark and now stand at 910,319. India is now the 4th-worst hit country in terms of active cases. India also witnessed a grim record of second-most fatalities due to covid-19 in a single day in 2021, which stood at 685. The death toll from the deadly infection stands at 166,892.

Maharashtra reported 59,907 new Covid-19 cases in highest ever single-day spike today. The state also reported the highest single-day death count due to coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic with 322 fatalities. Out of the new cases today, Pune shared the highest with 11,023 cases, followed by Mumbai at 10,428.

Delhi too recorded this year’s biggest single-day rise of 5,506 cases.
The five most affected states by total cases are Maharashtra (3,173,261), Kerala (1,144,594), Karnataka (1,033,560), Andhra Pradesh (910,943), and Tamil Nadu (907,124).

NEW ZEALAND SUSPENDS ENTRY OF TRAVELLERS FROM INDIA

New Zealand on Thursday temporarily suspended entry for all travellers from India, including its own citizens, for about two weeks following a high number of positive coronavirus cases arriving from the South Asian country.

The move comes after New Zealand recorded 23 new positive coronavirus cases at its border on Thursday, of which 17 were from India.

“We are temporarily suspending entry into New Zealand for travellers from India,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a news conference in Auckland.

India is battling a deadly second wave of COVID-19 with daily infections this week passing the peak of the first wave seen last September.

The suspension will start from 1600 local time on April 11 and will be in place until April 28.

During this time the government will look at risk management measures to resume travel.

“I want to emphasize that while arrivals of COVID from India has prompted this measure, we are looking at how we manage high risk points of departure generally. This is not a country specific risk assessment…,” Ardern said.