In just 21 days, India adds another million COVID-19 cases to its tally
Registering over 60,000 cases in 24 hours for the first time, India's COVID-19 tally galloped past 20 lakh on Friday, while the number of recoveries surged to 13.78 lakh, according to Union Health Ministry data.
The coronavirus infection tally had crossed 19 lakh just two days ago. It took 110 days for COVID-19 cases in the country to reach one lakh and 59 days more to cross the 10-lakh mark. Thereafter it took just 21 days more to go past 20 lakh.
This was the ninth day in a row that the tally increased by more than 50,000.
According to the health ministry data updated at 8 am, 62,538 cases were added in a day taking the total coronavirus caseload to 20,27,074.
The death-toll climbed to 41,585 with 886 people succumbing to the infection in 24 hours, the data showed. At the same time, the number of patients who recuperated from the disease surged to 13,78,105 on Friday taking the recovery rate to 67.98 per cent.
There are 6,07,384 active coronavirus cases in the country presently which comprise 29.96 per cent of the total caseload.
The Union health ministry said India continues on the path of COVID-19 management boosted by two significant achievements -- continuously rising recovery rate and reducing Case Fatality Rate (CFR) which is much below the global average. The Recovery Rate on Friday was recorded 68%, while the CFR dropped down to a new low of 2.05 per cent.
Ramped up hospital infrastructure and emphasis on efficient treatment of hospitalised patients through the Standard of Care incorporated in the Clinical Treatment Protocol issued by the Centre, have effectively ensured improvement in the recovery rate.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative 2,27,88,393 samples have been tested for coronavirus infection up to August 6 with 6,39,042 being tested on Thursday.
Of the 886 new deaths reported, 316 are from Maharashtra, 110 from Tamil Nadu, 93 from Karnataka, 72 from Andhra Pradesh, 61 from Uttar Pradesh, 56 from West Bengal, 27 from Gujarat, 26 from Punjab, 17 in Madhya Pradesh, 15 from Delhi and 12 from Rajasthan and Telangana.
Ten fatalities have been reported each from Odisha and Jammu and Kashmir, nine in Jharkhand, eight in Bihar, five each in Tripura, Puducherry and Assam, three each from Kerala Haryana, two each from Goa and Andman and Nicobar Islands and one in Manipur.
Of the total 41,585 deaths so far, Maharashtra has reported the maximum at 16,792, followed by 4,571 in Tamil Nadu and 4,059 in Delhi, 2,897 in Karnataka, 2,583 in Gujarat, 1,918 in Uttar Pradesh, 1,902 in West Bengal, 1,753 in Andhra Pradesh and 946 in Madhya Pradesh.
So far, 757 people have died of COVID-19 in Rajasthan, 601 in Telangana, 517 in Punjab, 458 in Haryana, 436 in Jammu and Kashmir, 363 in Bihar, 235 in Odisha, 145 in Jharkhand, 126 in Assam, 98 in Uttarakhand and 97 in Kerala.
Chhattisgarh has registered 77 deaths, Puducherry 70, Goa 66, Tripura 36, Chandigarh 20, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands 16, Himachal Pradesh 14, eight in Manipur, seven in Ladakh, six in Nagaland, five in Meghalaya, the ministry data showed.
Arunachal Pradesh reported three fatalities while Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu reported two and Sikkim reported one case.
According to health economist Rijo M. John, India is expected to add another one million cases in the next 14 days. "While some of the big burden states seem to have either reduced the daily new cases or plateaued, at least for now, there are others who see daily new highs. 33 States/UTs now have at least a 1000 plus COVID-19 cases. The 7-day average daily growth of cases is now at 2.9 per cent. At this rate, the next 1 million should take only 14 days (20 Aug). Growth of cases is now more in North East states, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Andaman Nicobar Islands. The daily test positive rate is now at 8.8 per cent but very high in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland," John said.
