India’s tally of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) stands at 906,752 and the death toll at 23,727 on Tuesday, nearly six months after the first case was reported late in January in Kerala, according to Union health ministry.
The health ministry’s dashboard showed there were 28,498 fresh cases and 553 fatalities in the last 24 hours as the country’s recorded more than 3.21 lakh infections in a fortnight.
India’s recovery rate was 63.02% as the number of recoveries exceeded the active cases by more than 259,894. In the last 24 hours, 17,989 people have been cured of the viral disease, taking the number of recovered patients to 571,459.
There are 311,565 actives cases of the coronavirus disease in the country, data showed.
The Centre said on Monday 19 states across the country have logged a recovery rate higher than that of the national average.
Among the 19 states, which have registered a recovery rate significantly higher than the national average, are Ladakh with 85.45%, closely followed by Delhi at a healthy 79.98% with Uttarakhand in the third spot with a recovery rate of 78.77%.
The country’s fatality rate has also declined to 2.64% this month despite a huge surge in positive cases reported daily, which has taken the country to third spot globally with a high concentration of coronavirus patients.
States that have a fatality rate lower than the national average are the north-eastern states of Manipur, Nagaland and the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
Last week, the Union health ministry had also indicated that the country’s Covid-19 cases and deaths per million population still remain among the lowest in the world, despite India being a country with 1.3 billion people.
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have been adding to the country’s infection tally consistently.
The number of Covid-19 cases has also shot up in states like Assam and Bihar promoting the state governments to clamp new rules amid a renewed phase of lockdown in several areas.
Globally, the coronavirus infections rose above 13 million on Monday, climbing by one million in just five days in a pandemic that has killed more than half a million people. The United States and Brazil have reported more cases than India.
World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there would be no return to the old normal for the foreseeable future, with too many countries headed in the wrong direction.
“The virus remains public enemy number one,” he said during a virtual briefing from WHO headquarters in Geneva.
“If basics are not followed, the only way this pandemic is going to go, it is going to get worse and worse and worse. But it does not have to be this way.”