COVID-19 cases in India rise to 72,39,389 with 63,509 new infections

India's COVID-19 caseload rose to 72,39,389 with 63,509 infections being reported in a day, while the number of people who have recuperated from the disease crossed 63 lakh, according to the Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

The recovery rate stands at 87.05 per cent.

The coronavirus death toll climbed to 1,10,586 with the virus claiming 730 lives in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.

For six days in a row the active cases of COVID-19 remained below 9 lakh.There are 8,26,876 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 11.42 per cent of the total caseload, while the recoveries have surged to 63,01,927, the data stated.

The COVID-19 case fatality rate was recorded at 1.53 per cent.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23 and 40 lakh on September 5. It went past  50 lakh on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28 and crossed 70 lakh on October 11.

According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 9,00,90,122 samples have been tested up to October 13 with 11,45,015 samples being tested on Tuesday.

The 730 new fatalities include 187 from Maharashtra, 87 from Karnataka, 62 from West Bengal, 57 from Tamil Nadu, 45 from Delhi, 35 from Andhra Pradesh, and 34 from Punjab.

A total of 1,10,586 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 40,701 from Maharashtra followed by 10,371 from Tamil Nadu, 10,123 from Karnataka, 6,466 from Uttar Pradesh, 6,291 from Andhra Pradesh, 5,854 from Delhi, 5,744 from West Bengal, 3,894 from Punjab and 3,584 from Gujarat.

The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said on its  website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.

Image credits: PTI