India's COVID-19 tally crosses 87.28 lakh with 44,879 new infections; toll at 1.28 lakh

New Delhi: India’s COVID-19 caseload climbed to 87.28 lakh on Friday after a single-day increase of 44,879 infections, while the total recoveries surged to 81,15,580, said the Union health ministry. The national recovery rate now stands to 92.97 percent. The toll reached 1,28,668 after 547 more fatalities were reported in the country in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed. The COVID-19 case fatality rate has further declined to 1.47 percent. There are 4,84,547 active cases in the country which comprise 5.55 percent of the total caseload, the data stated. With 44,879 fresh cases, the total coronavirus cases mounted to 87,28,795, it added. According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 12,31,01,739 samples have been tested so far. At least 11,39,230 samples were tested on Thursday alone. The 547 new fatalities include 122 from Maharashtra, 104 from Delhi, 54 from West Bengal, 25 each from Kerala and Tamil Nadu, 23 from Punjab, 21 each from Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, 20 from Chhattisgarh and 19 from Haryana. A total of 1,28,668 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including45,682 from Maharashtra followed by 11,474 from Karnataka, 11,440 from Tamil Nadu, 7,506 from West Bengal, 7,332 from Delhi, 7,302 from Uttar Pradesh, 6,837 from Andhra Pradesh, 4,412 from Punjab and 3,785 from Gujarat. 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, 70 lakh on 11 October and crossed 80 lakh on 29 October. 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 its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.