India registered a spike of 55,079 new COVID-19 cases during the last 24 hours taking its overall coronavirus tally past 27-lakh mark and reached 27,02,743. The death toll due to this deadly infection also crossed 51,000-mark and reached 51,797 after 876 new fatalities were reported during the last 24-hours.
Of the total 27,02,743 cases, 6,73,166 are active cases while 19,77,780 people have been cured and discharged from the hospitals across the country. The ICMR said that 3,09,41,264 samples tested up to 17th August for COVID-19. Of these, 8,99,864 samples were tested yesterday.
Meanwhile, the health ministry said that a new peak of 8.99 lakh tests done during the last 24 hours, adding that even with such a high level of testing, the positivity rate in the country remained low at 8.81 per cent as compared to the weekly national average at 8.84 per cent.
The health ministry also said that focused implementation of Centre-led strategies has ensured prompt identification, timely isolation and effective clinical treatment, leading to reduced Case Fatality Rate. The ministry further added that 30 States/UTs have performed better than the national average resulting in low fatality rate.
Among the Indian states, Maharashtra remains to be the worst-affected state. The state’s coronavirus count crossed the 6-lakh mark and rose to 6,04,358 after 8,493 fresh cases were reported during the last 24 hours, while 228 new deaths took the fatality tally to 20,265.