India's COVID-19 tally crosses 71.75 lakh; records 55,342 new cases, lowest in over two months

New Delhi: The number of new coronavirus infections reported daily across the country dropped below 60,000, even as the caseload surged to 71,75,880 and the total recoveries crossed 62 lakh, said the Union Health Ministry on Tuesday. The total confirmed cases mounted to 71,75,880, with 55,342 infections being reported in a day. The toll climbed to 1,09,856 as the virus claimed 706 lives in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed. For the fifth day in a row, the active cases of COVID-19 remained below 9 lakh. The country has been recording less than 75,000 new infections daily for the fifth consecutive day and fatalities below 1,000 for 10 straight days. India registered a record single-day increase of 97,894 COVID-19 cases on 17 September. There are 8,38,729 active cases of coronavirus in the country which comprises 11.69 percent of the total caseload, the data stated. The case fatality rate due to COVID-19 was recorded at 1.53 percent. India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on 7 August, 30 lakh on 23 August and 40 lakh on 5 September. It went past 50 lakh on 16 September, 60 lakh on 28 September and crossed 70 lakh on 11 October. According to ICMR, a cumulative total of 8,89,45,107 samples has been tested up to 12 October. While 10,73,014 samples have been tested on Monday alone. The 706 new fatalities include 165 from Maharashtra, 70 from Karnataka,62 from Tamil Nadu, 60 from West Bengal, 44 from Uttar Pradesh, 40 from Delhi, 33 from Chhattisgarh and 32 from Andhra Pradesh. Total 1,09,856 deaths reported so far in the country includes 40,514 from Maharashtra followed by 10,314 from Tamil Nadu, 10,036 from Karnataka, 6,438 from Uttar Pradesh, 6,256 from Andhra Pradesh, 5,809 from Delhi, 5,682 from West Bengal, 3,860 from Punjab and 3,574 from Gujarat. The Health Ministry stressed that more than 70 percent 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.