India's COVID tally crosses 20L

New Delhi: India's COVID-19 tally breached the 20-lakh mark on Thursday, while the recoveries surged to 13.70 lakh, according to data provided by the states and union territories.
According to Union health ministry figures updated at 8 AM, the country saw a single-day spike of 56,282 infections, taking India's COVID-19 caseload to 19,64,536, while the death toll due to the disease climbed to 40,699 with 904 new fatalities being reported in a 24-hour span.
However, a PTI tally showed India's COVID-19 caseload at 20,19,930, death toll at 41,573 and recoveries at 13,70,347. The tally has been compiled as per information provided by the states and union territories.
The health ministry on Thursday said the total number of recoveries among COVID-19 patients in India has jumped to 13,28,336, pushing the recovery rate to 67.62 per cent, while the case fatality rate has further dropped to 2.07 per cent.
The recoveries exceeded active cases of the coronavirus infection by 7,32,835, it stated.
There are 5,95,501 active cases of COVID-19 in the country, which as a percentage of the total cases has seen a "significant drop from 34.17 per cent on July 24 to 30.31 per cent as on date", the ministry said.
This was the eighth consecutive day that COVID-19 cases have increased by more than 50,000.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 2,21,49,351 samples have been tested up to August 5 with 6,64,949 samples being tested on Wednesday.
Of the 904 fresh deaths reported, 334 are from Maharashtra, 112 from Tamil Nadu, 100 from Karnataka, 77 from Andhra Pradesh, 61 from West Bengal, 40 from Uttar Pradesh, 29 from Punjab, 23 from Gujarat, 17 from Madhya Pradesh, 13 each from Rajasthan and Telangana, 11 from Delhi and nine each from Jammu and Kashmir and Odisha.
Eight fatalities each have been reported from Bihar and Jharkhand, seven each from Haryana, Kerala and Puducherry, six from Assam, four from Goa, three from Uttarakhand, two each from Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Chhattisgarh while Nagaland and Tripura have registered one fatality each.
Of the total 40,699 deaths, Maharashtra has reported the maximum at 16,476 followed by 4,461 in Tamil Nadu, 4,044 in Delhi, 2,804 in Karnataka, 2,556 in Gujarat, 1,857 in Uttar Pradesh, 1,846 in West Bengal, 1,681 in Andhra Pradesh and 929 in Madhya Pradesh.
So far, 745 people have died of COVID-19 in Rajasthan, 589 in Telangana, 491 in Punjab, 455 in Haryana, 426 in Jammu and Kashmir, 355 in Bihar, 225 in Odisha, 136 in Jharkhand, 121 in Assam, 98 in Uttarakhand and 94 in Kerala.
Chhattisgarh has registered 71 deaths, Puducherry 65, Goa 64, Tripura 31, Chandigarh 20, Himachal Pradesh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands 14 each, Ladakh and Manipur seven each, Nagaland six, Meghalaya five, Arunachal Pradesh three, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu two and Sikkim one death.
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, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.