India’s coronavirus caseload hurtled past the 40 lakh-mark on Friday merely 13 days after it crossed 30 lakh, while the total number of recoveries surged to 31,06,921, according to data from states and union territories.
The Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday morning showed a single-day spike of 83,341 infections, taking the country’s caseload to 39,36,747 while the death toll climbed to 68,472 with 1,096 people succumbing to the disease in 24 hours.
According to the data, the case fatality rate has further declined to 1.74%. There are 8,31,124 active coronavirus cases in the country, which account for 21.11% of the caseload.
India is the third worst-hit nation by the pandemic after the US and Brazil in terms of cases and deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker that has been compiling coronavirus cases from around the world.
India crossed the 20 lakh-mark on August 7 and the 30 lakh-mark on August 23.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 4,66,79,145 samples were tested for COVID-19 in the country as on September 3, including 11,69,765 on Thursday.
The Centre on Friday also asked 15 districts of four states to work on drawing up proper containment zones, effective monitoring of home isolation cases, adequate testing, and ensuring seamless hospitalisation. These 15 districts across Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have been exhibiting higher active caseload, fatality rates and a surge in COVID-19 cases for the past four weeks.
Delhi has been witnessing a surge in Covid-19 cases since the past few days, even as the national capital reported an increase of 2,914 coronavirus cases on Friday. This was its highest single-day spike in 69 days, taking tally to over 1.85 lakh, while the death toll jumped to 4,513, authorities said. This is the fourth successive day in September when over 2,000 new cases have been reported in a day. Thirteen people died due to the disease and 1,751 patients recovered in the period. Active cases are currently at 18,842.
Mumbai also saw its single-day rise of 1,929 COVID-19 cases on Friday as the city’s caseload increased to 1,52,024, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. The death of 35 patients due to the infection pushed
the fatality toll further to 7,796, it said. Before this, Mumbai’s highest one-day surge of 1,751 cases was registered on May 22.
(With inputs from PTI)
