India’s COVID-19 tally crosses 7-lakh mark

India’s COVID-19 tally raced past the seven-lakh mark on Tuesday after a single-day spike of 22,252 infections, five days after crossing the six-lakh post, while the death toll breached the 20,000 mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

It took 110 days for coronavirus infections in the country to reach the one-lakh, while just 49 days more to go past the seven-lakh mark.

This is the fifth consecutive day that COVID-19 cases have increased by more than 20,000.

The country’s coronavirus infection caseload increased to 7,19,665 on Tuesday, while the death toll climbed to 20,160 with 467 persons succumbing to the disease in the last 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The number of recoveries stands at 4,39,947, while there are 2,59,557 active cases of coronavirus infection presently in the country.

“Thus, around 61.13 per cent of patients have recovered so far,” an official said.

The total number of confirmed cases included foreigners.

According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 1,02,11,092 samples have been tested up to July 6 with 2,41,430 samples being tested on Monday.

Of the 467 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, 204 are from Maharashtra, 61 from Tamil Nadu, 48 from Delhi, 29 from Karnataka, 24 from Uttar Pradesh, 22 from West Bengal, 17 from Gujarat, 11 each from Telangana and Haryana, nine from Madhya Pradesh, seven from Andhra Pradesh, six from Jammu and Kashmir, five each from Rajasthan and Punjab, two each from Bihar, Kerala and Odisha and one each from Arunachal Pradesh and Jharkhand.

Of the total 20,160 deaths reported so far, Maharashtra accounted for the highest 9,026 fatalities followed by Delhi with 3,115 deaths, Gujarat with 1,960, Tamil Nadu with 1,571, Uttar Pradesh with 809, West Bengal with 779, Madhya Pradesh with 617, Rajasthan with 461 and Karnataka with 401.

The COVID-19 death toll reached 306 in Telangana, 276 in Haryana, 239 in Andhra Pradesh, 169 in Punjab, 138 in Jammu and Kashmir, 97 in Bihar, 42 in Uttarakhand, 38 in Odisha and 27 in Kerala.

Jharkhand has registered 20 deaths, Chhattisgarh and Assam 14 each, Puducherry 12, Himachal Pradesh 11, Goa seven, Chandigarh six, Arunachal Pradesh two and Meghalaya, Tripura and Ladakh have reported one fatality each, according to the Health Ministry.

More than 70 per cent deaths took place due to comorbidities, it said.

Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases at 2,11,987 followed by Tamil Nadu at 1,14,978, Delhi at 1,00,823, Gujarat at 36,772, Uttar Pradesh at 28,636, Telangana at 25,733 and Karnataka at 25,317, according to the ministry data.

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 22,987 in West Bengal, 20,688 in Rajasthan, 20,019 in Andhra Pradesh, 17,504 in Haryana and 15,284 in Madhya Pradesh.

It has risen to 12,160 in Assam, 12,125 in Bihar, 9,526 in Odisha and 8,675 in Jammu and Kashmir. Punjab has reported 6,491 novel coronavirus infections so far, while Kerala has 5,622 cases.

A total of 3,305 people have been infected by the virus in Chhattisgarh, 3,161 in Uttarakhand, 2,847 in Jharkhand, 1,813 in Goa, 1,680 in Tripura, 1,390 in Manipur, 1,077 in Himachal Pradesh and 1,005 in Ladakh.

Puducherry has recorded 802 COVID-19 cases, Nagaland 625, Chandigarh 489 and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu together have reported 297 cases.

Arunachal Pradesh reported 270 cases, Mizoram has 197 cases, Andaman and Nicobar Islands has 141, Sikkim has registered 125 infections so far, while Meghalaya has recorded 80 cases.

“Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR,” the ministry said, adding that 5,034 cases are being reassigned to states.

State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it added.