India's Covid-19 tally crosses 2.5 million with 65,000 new cases in 24 hrs

A spike of 65,002 cases took India's Covid-19 tally past 2.5 million on Saturday, just a day after it crossed the 2.4 million mark, while the number of fatalities neared 50,000 with 996 deaths, Union Health Ministry data showed.

According to figures from the ministry, 1.8 million people have so far recuperated from the disease, pushing the recovery rate to 71.61 per cent.

India has been reporting over 60,000 cases daily since August 7, barring August 11 when the country registered 53,601 new instances of the infection.

The Covid-19 caseload stood at 25,26,192, while the death-toll climbed to 49,036, data updated on Saturday at 8 am showed.

Case fatality rate has declined to 1.94 per cent.

There are 6,68,220 active cases of coronavirus infections in the country, which is 26.45 per cent of the total caseload, while the number of recoveries has risen to 18,08,936.

India's Covid-19 tally had crossed the 2 million mark on August 7.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 2,85,63,095 samples have been tested up to August 14. Of these, 8,68,679 were examined on Friday, the highest in a day so far.

Of the 996 fresh deaths reported, 364 are from Maharashtra, 117 from Tamil Nadu, 104 from Karnataka, 97 from Andhra Pradesh, 60 from West Bengal, 55 from Uttar Pradesh, 25 from Punjab, 16 each from Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, 15 each from Gujarat and Jharkhand, 13 from Rajasthan, 11 each from Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir and 10 each from Kerala, Odisha and Telangana.

Besides, seven fatalities have been reported from Haryana, six from Assam, four each from Puducherry, Tripura and Uttarakhand, two each from Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Goa while Arunachal Pradesh and Chandigarh have registered one fatality each.

Of the total 49,036 deaths, Maharashtra counts for the maximum with 19,427, followed by 5,514 in Tamil Nadu, 4,178 in Delhi, 3,717 in Karnataka, 2,746 in Gujarat, 2,475 in Andhra Pradesh, 2,335 in Uttar Pradesh, 2,319 in West Bengal and 1,081 in Madhya Pradesh.

So far, 846 people have died of Covid-19 in Rajasthan, 731 in Punjab, 684 in Telangana, 520 in Jammu and Kashmir, 518 in Haryana, 442 in Bihar, 324 in Odisha, 224 in Jharkhand, 175 in Assam, 147 in Uttarakhand and 139 in Kerala.

Chhattisgarh has registered 130 deaths, Puducherry 106, Goa 93, Tripura 50, Chandigarh 28, Andaman and Nicobar Islands 24, Himachal Pradesh 19, Manipur 13, Ladakh nine, Nagaland eight, Meghalaya six, Arunachal Pradesh five, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu two and Sikkim one.

According to the Health Ministry, 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.