India on Friday recorded a total of 62,258 new cases of coronavirus. This is also the first time India breached the 60,00 daily cases tally since October 17 last year, with Maharashtra reporting 60 per cent of these new cases. The country also reported 291 deaths from the virus in the last 24 hours, the highest daily toll since December 30 last year.

Maharashtra remains the worst affected state in the country reporting another all-time high of 36,902 new cases on Friday. Over the last three days, Maharashtra has reported more than 30,000 cases –the worst daily new cases count since the beginning of the pandemic. The state also witnessed 112 deaths in the last 24 hours. Mumbai witnessed 5,515 fresh news cases on Friday, with 3,875 active cases in the capital city. Pune continues to be the worst affected city in the country with 7,147 new cases. Meanwhile, Nagpur reported 4,157 fresh new cases. In Thane, 3,128 people tested positive for the infection in the last 24 hours.

Besides Maharashtra, Punjab and Gujarat also logged their highest ever count of new cases. Punjab added 3,176 new infections and 59 deaths, the second-highest in the country after Maharashtra. Gujarat reported 2,190 new cases of infections, its highest-ever count for the fifth straight day.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray chaired a high-level meeting on Friday in which it was announced that a night curfew will come into effect in Maharashtra from March 28 onwards.

With the upcoming festival of Holi amidst the Covid-19 surge, several states have prohibited public celebrations.

The total cases in the country mounted to 1,19,08,910 including 4,52,647 active cases and 1,12,95,023 recoveries. The death toll has gone up to 1,61,240.