India's COVID-19 tally goes past 34 lakh with single-day spike of 76,472 cases; death toll 62,550

India's COVID-19 tally raced past 34 lakh with a single-day spike of 76,472 cases, while number of recoveries surged to 26,48,998, pushing recovery rate to 76.47 per cent on Saturday, according to Union health ministry.

total number of COVID-19 cases rose to 34,63,972, while death toll due to disease climbed to 62,550 with 1,021 people succumbing to it in a span of 24 hours, ministry's data updated at 8 am showed.

COVID-19 case fatality rate has furr declined to 1.81 per cent in country.

re are 7,52,424 active coronavirus cases in country currently, which account for 21.72 per cent of total caseload, data showed.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed 20-lakh mark on August 7 and 30-lakh mark on August 23.

According to Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 4,04,066,09 samples were tested for COVID-19 up to August 28, including 9,28,761 on Friday.

Of 1,021 fresh deaths, 331 were in Maharashtra, 136 in Karnataka, 102 in Tamil Nadu, 81 in Andhra Pradesh, 77 in Uttar Pradesh, 56 in West Bengal, 51 in Punjab, 20 each in Bihar and Delhi, 17 in Madhya Pradesh, 15 in Haryana, 14 in Gujarat, 12 in Rajasthan, 11 in Uttarakhand.

Nine fatalities each were reported from Puducherry and Telangana, eight each from Assam, Jharkhand and Odisha, seven each from Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala, six from Chhattisgarh, five from Tripura, four from Goa, two each from Chandigarh, Manipur and Meghalaya, while Ladakh registered one death.

Of total 62,550 deaths, Maharashtra has accounted for maximum of 23,775, followed by Tamil Nadu (7,050), Karnataka (5,368), Delhi (4,389), Andhra Pradesh (3,714), Uttar Pradesh (3,294), West Bengal (3,073), Gujarat (2,976) and Madhya Pradesh (1,323).

So far, 1,307 people have died of COVID-19 in Punjab, 1,017 in Rajasthan, 808 in Telangana, 678 in Jammu and Kashmir, 661 in Haryana, 558 in Bihar, 456 in Odisha, 381 in Jharkhand, 286 in Assam, 274 in Kerala, 251 in Chhattisgarh and 239 in Uttarakhand.

Puducherry has registered 199 COVID-19 fatalities, Goa 175, Tripura 94, Chandigarh 45, Andaman and Nicobar Islands 42, Himachal Pradesh 33, Ladakh 28, Manipur 27, Meghalaya 10, Nagaland nine, Arunachal Pradesh five, Sikkim three and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu two.

health ministry said more than 70 per cent of deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

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