With a record single-day increase of 27,114 cases, India’s COVID-19 tally zoomed past the eight-lakh mark on Saturday, just four days after crossing the seven-lakh post, according to the Union Health ministry data.
The total coronavirus caseload in the country surged to 8,20,916 on Saturday while the death toll climbed to 22,123 with 519 people succumbing to the disease in 24 hours, the updated data at 8 am showed.
This was the eighth consecutive day that COVID-19 cases in the country increased by more than 22,000.
The rise in the number of coronavirus cases has gained pace significantly. It took 110 days for the number of cases in the country to reach one lakh but just 53 days more to race past the eight-lakh mark.
It took 64 days for COVID-19 cases in India to rise above one lakh from 100, and another fortnight to cross two lakh on June 3. It took 10 days for the tally to touch the three lakh-mark and another eight days for the cases to climb above four lakh on June 21.
In another six days, the total tally raced past the five-lakh mark. Then it took 10 days to cross seven lakh.
With effective implementation of containment zones, surveillance activities, timely diagnosis and effective clinical management of cases, the total number of recovered patients has crossed the 5 lakh-mark on Saturday, the Union Health ministry said.
A total of 5,15,385 COVID-19 patients have recovered so far with 19,870 COVID-19 patients having been cured and discharged in the last 24 hours till 8 am.
“The recovered cases outnumber the COVID-19 active cases by 2,31,978. With this progressively widening gap, the recovery rate has further improved to 62.78 per cent,” the ministry said.
There are 2,83,407 active cases and all are under medical supervision, with severe cases being admitted in hospitals and pre-symptomatic patients and those showing moderate symptoms in home isolation.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 1,13,07,002 swab samples have been tested for COVID-19 up to July 10, of which 2,82,511 been tested on Friday.
Of the 519 new deaths reported on Saturday, 226 are from Maharashtra, 64 from Tamil Nadu, 57 from Karnataka, 42 from Delhi, 27 from Uttar Pradesh and 26 from West Bengal. Andhra Pradesh reported 15 fatalities, Gujarat 14, Telangana eight and Rajasthan six.
Assam and Jammu and Kashmir reported five deaths each, followed by Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Punjab with four deaths each, Haryana and Puducherry three fatalities each while two persons have succumbed to the viral infection in Chhattisgarh.
Of the total 22,123 deaths reported so far, Maharashtra tops the tally with 9,893 fatalities followed by Delhi with 3,300 deaths, Gujarat 2,022, Tamil Nadu 1,829, Uttar Pradesh 889, West Bengal 880, Madhya Pradesh 638, Karnataka 543 and Rajasthan 497. So far, 339 people have died of COVID-19 in Telangana, 292 in Andhra Pradesh, 290 in Haryana, 187 in Punjab, 159 in Jammu and Kashmir, 119 in Bihar, 56 in Odisha, 46 in Uttarakhand and 27 each in Kerala and Assam.
Jharkhand has registered 23 deaths, Chhattisgarh and Puducherry 17 each, Himachal Pradesh 11, Goa nine, Chandigarh seven, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya two each, Tripura and Ladakh have reported one fatality each.
The Union Health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.
Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases at 2,38,461 followed by Tamil Nadu at 1,30,261, Delhi at 1,09,140, Gujarat at 40,069, Uttar Pradesh at 33,700, Karnataka at 33,418 and Telangana at 32,224.
The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 27,109 in West Bengal, 25,422 in Andhra Pradesh, 23,174 in Rajasthan, 19,934 in Haryana and 16,657 in Madhya Pradesh.
Assam has 14,600 instances of the infection, Bihar 14,575, Odisha 11,956, and Jammu and Kashmir 9,888 cases. Punjab has reported 7,357 novel coronavirus infections so far while Kerala has 6,950 cases.
A total of 3,767 have been infected by the virus in Chhattisgarh, 3,419 in Jharkhand, 3,373 in Uttarakhand, 2,251 in Goa, 1,918 in Tripura, 1,582 in Manipur, 1,272 in Puducherry, 1,171 in Himachal Pradesh and 1,064 in Ladakh.
Nagaland has recorded 732 COVID-19 cases, Chandigarh 539 and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu together have reported 459 cases. Arunachal Pradesh reported 335 cases, Mizoram has 226 cases, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands has 156, Meghalaya has registered 207 infections so far, while Sikkim has recorded 134 cases. “Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR,” the ministry said, adding that 3,416 cases are being reassigned to states. State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it added.