India on Saturday recorded 89,129 new COVID-19 cases in a day, the highest daily rise in around six-and-a-half months, taking the nationwide tally of infections to over 1.23 crore, according to the Union Health Ministry on Saturday. The death toll increased to 1,64,110 with 714 more fatalities in a day, also the highest since October 21. The jump in cases reported on Saturday was the highest since September 20 last year, when 92,605 new infections were recorded in a span of 24 hours. Corresponding to the rapid surge in cases, the number of active cases too have registered a steady increase for the 24th day in a row with the tally reaching 6,58,909, which is 5.32 per cent of the total infections. The recovery rate has further dropped to 93.36 per cent, the data stated. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,15,69,241.

Vax hesitancy levels down
As the COVID-19 second wave is getting stronger in India, the percentage of citizens willing to take the vaccine has gone up to 77 per cent, as per a LocalCircles survey. With almost 90,000 daily cases, and vaccination for all above the age of 45 years beginning on April 1, hesitancy levels are down to 23 per cent. Fifty-two per cent of citizens who took the vaccine did not have any kind of side effects.