It took 110 days for coronavirus infections in the country to reach one lakh, while just 39 days more to go past the five lakh-mark.
Medical experts have pointed to the ramped-up Covid-19 testing, now available more extensively and at a reasonable price, as a big reason for the spike in cases recently.
Six days after recording four lakh infections, India’s Covid-19 tally went past the five lakh-mark on Saturday with the highest single-day surge of 18,552 cases, while the death toll climbed to 15,685, according to Union health ministry data.
The Covid-19 caseload increased to 5,08,953, while 384 fatalities were recorded in the last 24 hours, the updated figure at 8 am showed.
This was the fourth consecutive day when coronavirus infection increased by more than 15,000, while there has been a surge of 3,18,418 infections from June 1 till 27. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh are the top contributors to the rising tally.
It took 64 days for Covid-19 cases in India to touch the (May 19) one lakh-mark from 100 cases, and another fortnight to cross two lakh cases on June 3. It took 10 days for the tally to touch the three lakh-mark and another eight days for the cases to climb to four lakh.
The nationwide lockdown was first imposed on March 25 for 21 days in a bid to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. The lockdown was first extended till May 3 and then again till May 17. It was further extended till May 31.
The lockdown is now restricted only in containment zones across the country and will continue till June 30. A large number of social, economic, religious and sports activities are currently allowed to function under what the Ministry of Home Affairs termed as ‘Unlock 1’.