COVID-19: India records highest single-day spike of 69,874 cases; tally rises to 29,75,701

With a record spike of 69,874 infections in a day, India's COVID-19 tally increased to 29,75,701, while recoveries surged to 22,22,577 pushing recovery rate to 74.69 percent on Saturday, according to Union health ministry data.

death toll climbed to 55,794 with 945 fatalities being reported in a span of 24 hours, data updated at 8 am showed.

COVID-19 case fatality rate has declined to 1.87 percent, it said.

re are 6,97,330 active cases of coronavirus infection in country which comprises 23.43 percent of total caseload, data stated.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed 20-lakh mark on August 7.   A cumulative total of 3,44,91,073 samples have been tested up to August 21 with 10,23,836 samples being tested on Friday, highest done in a day so far, Lokesh Sharma, scientist and media coordinator at ICMR said.

Of 945 fresh deaths, 339 are from Maharashtra, 101 from Tamil Nadu, 93 from Karnataka, 91 from Andhra Pradesh, 64 from Uttar Pradesh, 55 from West Bengal, 34 from Punjab, 15  from Jammu and Kashmir, 14 each from Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, 13 from Delhi, 12 each from Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and 11 from Jharkhand.

Ten fatalities were reported from Odisha, nine from Goa, seven each from Haryana and Telangana, six each from Assam, Bihar and Puducherry, five from Uttarakhand, two each from Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur while Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Ladakh and Tripura have registered one fatality each.

Of total 55,794 deaths, Maharashtra has reported maximum at 21,698 followed by 6,340 in Tamil Nadu, 4,522 in Karnataka, 4,270 in Delhi, 3,092 in Andhra Pradesh, 2,867 in Gujarat, 2,797 in Uttar Pradesh, 2,689 in West Bengal and 1,185 in Madhya Pradesh.

So far, 991 people have died of COVID-19 in Punjab, 933 in Rajasthan, 744 in Telangana, 593 in Jammu and Kashmir, 585 in Haryana, 498 in Bihar, 390 in Odisha, 297 in Jharkhand, 227 in Assam, 203 in Kerala and 192 in Uttarakhand.

Chhattisgarh has registered 180 deaths, Puducherry 143, Goa 135, Tripura 70, Chandigarh 33, Andaman and Nicobar Islands 32, Himachal Pradesh 25, Manipur 20, Ladakh 19, Nagaland eight, Meghalaya six, Arunachal Pradesh five, Sikkim three and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu  two.  health ministry stressed that more than 70 percent of deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

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

Im credits: PTI