Over 64,000 new coronavirus cases, India's virus tally climbs to 27,67,273

With 64,531 people testing positive in a day, India's COVID-19 tally increased to 27,67,273 on Wednesday, while the recoveries crossed the 2 million mark pushing the recovery rate to 73.64%

With 64,531 people testing positive in a day, India's COVID-19 tally increased to 27,67,273 on Wednesday, while the recoveries crossed the 20-lakh mark pushing the recovery rate to 73.64 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

The death toll climbed to52,889with 1,092 people succumbing to the disease in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.

Case fatality rate has declined to 1.91 per cent. There are 6,76,514 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which is 24.45 per cent of the total caseload, while the number of recoveries has surged to 20,37,870.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 3,17,42,782 samples have been tested till August 18 with 8,01,518 samples being tested on Tuesday.

Of the 1,092 fresh deaths, Maharashtra reported the highest number of fatalities at 422 followed by139 from Karnataka,121 from Tamil Nadu, 88 from Andhra Pradesh, 70 from Uttar Pradesh, 55 from West Bengal, 35 from Punjab, 20 from Gujarat, 13 each from Madhya Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, 12 each from Delhi and Jharkhand and 11 from Rajasthan.

Nine fatalities each have been reported from Odisha and Puducherry, eight each from Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Telangana, seven from Haryana, six each from Assam, Kerala and Uttarakhand, five from Goa, three each from Ladakh and Tripura, while Andmana and Nicobar Islands, Sikkim and Manipur have registered one fatality each.

Of the total 52,889 deaths, Maharashtra has reported the maximum at 20,687, followed by 6,007 in Tamil Nadu, 4,226 in Delhi, 4,201 in Karnataka, 2,820 each in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, 2,585 in Uttar Pradesh, 2,528 in West Bengal and 1,141 in Madhya Pradesh.

So far, 898 people have died of COVID-19 each in Rajasthan and Punjab, 719 in Telangana, 557 in Haryana, 561 in Jammu and Kashmir, 476 in Bihar, 362 in Odisha, 262 in Jharkhand, 203 in Assam, 175 in Kerala and 164 in Uttarakhand.

Chhattisgarh has registered 158 deaths, Puducherry 123, Goa 116, Tripura 65, Chandigarh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands 30 each, Himachal Pradesh 19,Manipur 18, Ladakh 17, Nagaland eight, Meghalaya six, Arunachal Pradesh five, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu and Sikkim two each.

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.