New Delhi: With 8909 fresh cases and 217 deaths in a day, novel coronavirus cases were once again on all-time high on Wednesday in India as overall figures zipped past 2 lakh. The government figures were 2,07,615 cases and 5,815 deaths while other agencies put total numbers to 2,08,543 and 5,834 deaths. Presently, there are 1,01,497 active cases and all are under active medical supervision.

Government officials said that during the last 24 hours, 4,776 COVID-19 patients have been cured. Thus, so far, a total of 1,00,303 patients have been cured of COVID-19 and the recovery rate is 48.31%. The fatality rate is 2.80%. Officials added that the testing capacity has increased through 480 government and 208 private laboratories (total 688) and cumulatively 41,03,233 samples have been tested so far out of which 1,37,158 samples were tested on Tuesday.

Out of the total new cases, maximum continue to come from four states — Maharashtra (2,287 cases, 103 deaths), Tamil Nadu (1091 cases, 13 deaths), Delhi (1298 cases, 33 deaths), and Gujarat (417 cases, 29 deaths). In fact, Delhi, that recorded its highest single-day spike of 1,298 coronavirus cases, has now set up a 5-member committee to strengthen the healthcare infrastructure and look into overall preparedness of hospitals to battle COVID-19.

The committee will guide the Delhi government on any areas where strengthening of infrastructure is required to better manage the pandemic in Delhi. Delhi now has 22,132 cases and 556 deaths.

However, June is turning to a more tense period for the health agencies as cases continue to rise big time since May 31. With states contemplating opening religious places, malls, market places and interstate public transport, the numbers are expected to shoot up further.

The Badrinath temple’s chief priest has urged the Uttarakhand government to keep the yatra to the Himalayan shrine suspended till June 30 for safety reasons in view of the rising number of coronavirus cases. This comes after the state government said that it was preparing to start the Chardham yatra on a limited scale from June 8.

 Haryana on Wednesday resumed inter-state public transport services that had remained suspended for over two months in the wake of the coronavirus lockdown. Barring Delhi, which has ordered sealing of its borders for a week in the wake of the rising coronavirus cases in the city, the Haryana Roadways buses will ply to other states like Uttarakhand, Punjab, Himachal, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

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