India’s coronavirus tally reached 41,13,811 on Sunday, after the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare reported a record rise of 90,632 cases in 24 hours. The toll rose by 1,065 to 70,626. India now has 8,62,320 active cases, while 31,80,865 people have recovered, pushing the recovery rate to 77.23%.
With the latest count, India is likely to soon overtake the tally of infections in Brazil, which has 41.23 lakh cases so far, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. Only the United States which has so far reported 62,43,911 infections, is ahead of these two countries. India is the third-worst affected country in terms of the number of Covid-19 deaths, behind the US (1,88,514) and Brazil (1,25,521).
The Indian Council of Medical Research has tested 4,88,31,145 samples till Saturday, including 10,92,654 tests conducted on September 5.
The Centre on Saturday urged the governments of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to break the chain of transmission of the coronavirus and focus on maintaining the mortality rates in their states below 1%. Overall, five states – Maharashtra (24.97%), Andhra Pradesh (12.06%), Karnataka (11.71%), Uttar Pradesh (6.92%) and Tamil Nadu (6.10%) – accounted for over 60% of the active cases in India till Saturday, the Centre said. Of the total deaths in the country, 70% were recorded in Maharashtra (37.33%), Tamil Nadu (11.05%), Karnataka (8.87%), Delhi (6.49%) and Andhra Pradesh (6.15%).
The record rise in cases comes even as the country is further opening up activities in an attempt to boost the economy. Metro trains in major cities are also set to start running from next week. In the latest set of relaxations, India also allowed congregations with up to 100 persons. While international air travel is still mostly banned, gyms, yoga institutes and most economic activities outside containment zones have already begun. Entrance examinations to engineering and medical courses have also been permitted, despite protests by opposition parties and some students and parents.
Globally, the virus has infected 2.67 crore people, and 8.77 lakh have died due to it, according to Johns Hopkins University. Over 1.78 crore people across the world have recovered from the infection.
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