India reports 16,738 COVID-19 infections in past 24 hours; highest since 29 January

New Delhi: The daily rise in coronavirus infections in India was recorded above 15,000 after nearly a month, taking the country’s overall COVID-19 count to 1,10,46,914, said the Union health ministry on Thursday. A total 16,738 infections were reported in a day, while the toll increased to 1,56,705 with 138 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed. On 29 January, 18,855 new infections were recorded in a span of 24 hours after which it stayed below 15,000. The daily deaths were registered above 130 after a gap of 26 days. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,07,38,501, taking the national COVID-19 recovery rate to 97.21 percent. The case fatality rate stands at 1.42 percent. The active caseload increased to 1,51,708 which comprises 1.37 percent of the total infections, the data stated. India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on 7 August, 30 lakh on 23 August, 40 lakh on 5 September and 50 lakh on 16 September. It went past 60 lakh on 28 September, 70 lakh on 11 October, crossed 80 lakh on 29 October, 90 lakh on 20 November and surpassed the one-crore mark on 19 December. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 21,38,29,658 samples have been tested up to 24 February with 7,93,383 samples being tested on Wednesday.