Record single-day spike of 40,425 COVID-19 cases; India's tally crosses 11 lakh
New Delhi: India saw a record single-day jump of 40,425 COVID-19 cases, pushing its tally past the 11-lakh mark on Monday, while the total number of recoveries crossed 7 lakh, according to the Union Health Ministry data.
The death toll due to the disease rose to 27,497 with 681 fatalities reported in one day.
The data updated at 8 am on Monday showed that the total number of COVID-19 cases stands at 11,18,043.
India's COVID-19 tally crossed the 11-lakh mark, just three days after it crossed the ten-lakh mark.
There are 3,90,459 active cases in the country, while 7,00,086 people have recovered and one person has migrated. The recovery rate stands at 62.61 per cent.
The total number of confirmed cases includes foreigners.
This is the first time that the single-day spike has crossed the 40,000-mark.
According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 1,40,47,908 samples have been tested up to July 19 with 2,56,039 samples being tested on Sunday.
Of the 681 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, 258 were reported from Maharashtra, 91 from Karnataka, 78 from Tamil Nadu, 56 from Andhra Pradesh, 38 from Uttar Pradesh, 36 from West Bengal, 31 from Delhi, 20 from Gujarat and 15 from Madhya Pradesh.
The total fatalities in one day include nine from Bihar, eight each from Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, six each from Rajasthan and Telangana, five each from Haryana and Odisha, four from Assam, three from Jharkhand, two from Kerala, and one each from Goa and Ladakh.
Of the total 27,497 deaths reported so far, Maharashtra accounted for the highest 11,854 fatalities followed by Delhi with 3,628 deaths, Tamil Nadu 2,481, Gujarat 2,142, Karnataka 1,331, Uttar Pradesh 1,146, West Bengal 1,112, Madhya Pradesh 721 and Andhra Pradesh 642.
So far, 559 people have died of COVID-19 in Rajasthan, 415 in Telangana, 349 in Haryana, 254 in Punjab, 244 in Jammu and Kashmir, 217 in Bihar, 91 in Odisha, 57 in Assam, 52 in Uttarakhand, 49 in Jharkhand and 42 in Kerala.
Puducherry has registered 28 deaths, Chhattisgarh 24, Goa 22, Chandigarh 12, Himachal Pradesh 11, Tripura 5, Arunachal Pradesh 3, while Meghalaya, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, and Ladakh have reported two fatalities each.
The Health Ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.
Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases at 3,10,455 followed by Tamil Nadu at 1,70,693, Delhi at 1,22,793, Karnataka at 63,772, Gujarat at 48,355, Uttar Pradesh at 49,247, Andhra Pradesh at 49,650 and Telangana at 45,076.
The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 42,487 in West Bengal, 29,434 in Rajasthan, 26,164 in Haryana, 26,569 in Bihar, 23,999 in Assam and 22,600 in Madhya Pradesh.
Odisha has reported 17,437 infections, Jammu and Kashmir 13,899, Kerala 12,480, while Punjab has 10,100 cases.
A total of 5,535 have been infected by the virus in Jharkhand, 5,407 in Chhattisgarh, 4,515 in Uttarakhand, 3,657 in Goa, 2,878 in Tripura, 1,999 in Puducherry, 1,911 in Manipur, 1,483 in Himachal Pradesh and 1,178 in Ladakh.
Nagaland has recorded 988 COVID-19 cases, Chandigarh 717, Arunachal Pradesh 740 and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu together have reported 605 cases.
Meghalaya has reported 450 cases, Mizoram 284, Sikkim has registered 283 infections so far, while Andaman and Nicobar Islands has recorded 203 cases.
"Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR," the ministry said, adding, state-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation.
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AI, IndiGo, SpiceJet seek ATF price relief; say airline industry on verge of 'stopping operations'
Mumbai (PTI): Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet have told the government that the country's airline industry is under extreme stress and on the verge of "stopping operations", as they sought revision in ATF pricing and financial support.
The West Asia turmoil has pushed up oil prices, and airspace restrictions have increased airlines' operating costs, especially on long-haul routes. Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) accounts for around 40 per cent of a carrier's operational expenses.
Against this backdrop, the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) has written to the civil aviation ministry, seeking steps to extend the same fuel pricing mechanism uniformly across both domestic and international operations as was done in the past with the establishment of the crack band.
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With an unprecedented rise in jet fuel prices and exorbitant crack/differential between crude and ATF, the federation said the operation of airlines is being challenged in totality.
"... any ad hoc pricing (domestic vs international) and/or irrational increase in the price of ATF will result in unsurmountable losses for airlines and will lead to grounding of aircraft, resulting in cancellation of flights," the federation, which represents Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet, said.
"In order to survive, sustain and continue operation, we request your urgent intervention for immediate and meaningful financial support to tide over the current situation," it said in a letter on April 26.
Also, the airlines have sought temporary deferment of excise duty on ATF, which is at 11 per cent.
"With the abnormal increase in ATF prices from the pre-crisis period, adding rupee depreciation to the increased prices, the 11 per cent excise duty also increases manifold for the airlines and adds to the ATF price as a big impact on airlines," they said.
Last month, the government limited the hike in ATF price to Rs 15 per litre for domestic operations, but for international operations, the price rose by Rs 73 per litre.
The airlines said the situation has practically made international operations, along with domestic operations, completely unviable and resulted in significant losses for the aviation sector in April.
Seeking urgent intervention on the current ATF ad hoc pricing, FIA said the current situation is creating a severe imbalance in domestic and international operations and rendering airline networks unviable and unsustainable.
"The airline industry in India is under extreme stress and is on the verge of closing down or of stopping its operations."
The federation has pitched for a transparent pricing framework under the crack band mechanism (USD 12–22/BBL) that was implemented in October 2022, saying there was a fair and reasonable margin for Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).
According to FIA, the country's largest aviation hub Delhi has the second-highest value-added tax (VAT) of 25 per cent on jet fuel, while the highest rate is 29 per cent levied in Tamil Nadu.
"The other major aviation cities, viz. Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Kolkata range between 16 per cent and 20 per cent. These 6 cities cover more than 50 per cent of airlines' operations within India," the federation said.
