New Delhi, Mar 18 (FN Agency) India on Thursday recorded a whopping 35,871 new cases of COVID-19 during the past 24 hours, pushing the country caseload to 1,14,74,605, while the death toll soared to 1,59,216 with 172 more fatalities. According to the Union Health Ministry, the active cases rose by 17,958 to stand at 2,52,364. It is now 2.20 per cent of the total caseload. Of the freshly reported deaths, Maharashtra accounted for maximum 84, followed by Punjab 35, Kerala 13, Tamil Nadu 8 and Chhattisgarh 6.
Notably, 19 states or UTs reported zero deaths viz. Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand. The past 24 hours saw 17,741 people recovering from the deadly virus, taking the total recovery count to 1,10,63,025, which is 96.41 per cent of the case tally. The fatality rate stood at 1.39 per cent. Meanwhile, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that a total of 23,03,13,163 lakh samples have been tested so far for coronavirus. Out of this, 10,63,379 were tested in the past one day.
On the vaccination front, a total of 3,64,67,744 vaccine doses have been administered till 1900 hrs Wednesday. Amid spurt in cases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday while addressing the chief ministers of all the states and UTs, warned of a second wave of the virus transmission and asked them to take decisive steps before it gets too late.