India’s COVID Tally Breaches 31-Lakh Mark, up 11 Lakh in About 2 Weeks

New Delhi: A single-day spike of 61,408 COVID-19 cases took India's virus caseload past the 31-lakh mark on Monday, a day after it crossed 30 lakh, whilerecoveries surged to 23,38,035pushing the recovery rate to over 75%,according to the Union Health Ministry data.

India's COVID-19 caseload mounted to 31,06,348, while thedeath toll climbed to57,542 with 836 fatalities being reported in a span of 24-hours,the data updated at 8 am showed.

The COVID-19 case fatality rate has declined to 1.85%, while the recovery rate has risen to 75.27%.

There are 7,10,771 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 22.88% of the total caseload, the data stated.

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

According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 3,59,02,137 samples have been tested up to August 23 with6,09,917 samples being tested on Sunday.

Of the 836 fresh deaths, 258 are from Maharashtra, 97 from Tamil Nadu, 93 from Andhra Pradesh,68 from Karnataka, 59 from Uttar Pradesh, 57 from West Bengal, 50 from Punjab, 23 from Madhya Pradesh, 16 from Delhi, 14 from Gujarat, 11 from Rajasthan and 10 from Odisha.

Nine fatalities have been reported from Jammu and Kashmir, eight each from Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Puducherry, six each from Haryana and Telangana, five each from Kerala and Uttarakhand, four each from Chandigarh, Jharkhand and Goa, two from Ladakh, while Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Meghalaya and Tripura have registered one fatality each.

Of the total 57,542 deaths, Maharashtra has reported the maximum at 22,253 followed by 6,517 in Tamil Nadu, 4,683 in Karnataka, 4,300 in Delhi,3,282 in Andhra Pradesh, 2,895 in Gujarat, 2,926 in Uttar Pradesh, 2,794 in West Bengal and 1,229 in Madhya Pradesh.

So far, 1,086 people have died of COVID-19 in Punjab, 955 in Rajasthan, 761 in Telangana, 617 in Jammu and Kashmir, 603 in Haryana, 511 in Bihar, 409 in Odisha, 312 in Jharkhand, 242 in Assam, 223 in Kerala and 200 in Uttarakhand.

Chhattisgarh has registered 197 deaths, Puducherry 159, Goa 144, Tripura 73, Chandigarh 37, Andaman and Nicobar Islands 33, Himachal Pradesh 29, Ladakh 23, Manipur 22, Nagaland nine, Meghalaya eight, Arunachal Pradesh five, Sikkim three and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu two.

The Health Ministry stressed that more than 70% of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said on itswebsite, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.