The 80,000-plus peak comes on a Sunday, when the number of fresh infections have been lower than other days of the week because of a lull in testing during the weekends. The highest tally on a Sunday was last recorded on August 9 with 63,851 fresh cases.
![](https://static.toiimg.com/photo/imgsize-117909,msid-77842392/77842392.jpg)
![](https://static.toiimg.com/photo/imgsize-117909,msid-77842392/77842392.jpg)
However, more alarming than the new peak in fresh infections is the growth rate of both new infections and the toll shooting up in the last week of August after a fall seen in the earlier weeks of the month. With more than 76,000 fresh cases being registered daily for five consecutive days, the growth rate this week at 13.1% was almost three times the 4.7% growth registered the previous week. This was 5.9% in the preceding week and 10.9% in the first week of the month (August 3-9).
Similarly, with 1,000-plus fresh deaths recorded for four consecutive days, the growth rate in fatalities this week, at 3.9%, was more than double of 1.7% recorded in the previous week.
Sunday’s peak of fresh cases came on the back of Maharashtra recording its second-highest surge with 16,408 infections — more than 16,000 cases for the second consecutive day — as well as five other states/UTs registering their highest peaks: UP (which crossed the 6,000-mark for the first time with 6,233 new cases), Rajasthan (1,450 fresh cases), Madhya Pradesh (1,558), Chhattisgarh (1,471) and Jammu & Kashmir (786).
With 970 fresh deaths on Sunday, India’s toll inched closer to the 65,000-mark at 64,550, according to numbers provided by state government collated by TOI. Maharashtra, the worst-affected state, registered 296 fresh deaths on Sunday, taking the toll to 24,399, which is nearly 38% of the country’s total fatalities. Maharashtra registered its highest peak with 16,867 new cases just a day ago.
While the cumulative caseload of the country crossed the 36-lakh mark on Sunday at 36,16,730, the number of patients who have recovered is 27,67,412. The number of active cases is close to the 8-lakh mark at 7,84,768.
Andhra Pradesh emerged as the second worst-affected state in the country with 10,603 new infections, taking the state’s caseload to 4,24,767 and pushing Tamil Nadu to the third place with a caseload of 4,22,085.