COVID-19: 61,871 new infections, 1,033 more fatalities in country

PTI, Oct 18, 2020, 11:06 AM IST

New Delhi: India’s COVID-19 caseload mounted to 74,94,551 with 61,871 new infections being reported in a day, while the recoveries surged to 65,97,209 pushing the recovery rate to 88.03 per cent, according to the Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.

The coronavirus death toll climbed to 1,14,031 with the virus claiming 1,033 lives in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The number of active cases of coronavirus infection remained below 8 lakh for the second consecutive day. There are 7,83,311 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country, comprising 10.45 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

The COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.52 per cent.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh cases on August 23 and 40 lakh on September 5 . It went past 50 lakh cases on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28 and crossed 70 lakh on October 11.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 9,42,24,190 samples have been tested up to October 17 with 9,70,173 samples being tested on Saturday.

India stood second behind the US in terms of active cases of COVID-19 as well as total caseload, according to Worldometer, a website that publishes coronavirus statistics from across the globe.

India is in the number one position in terms of the number of recovered cases while it is in the third spot in terms of fatalities globally after the US and Brazil.

The 1,033 new fatalities include 463 from Maharashtra, 95 from Uttarakhand, 71 from Karnataka, 61 from West Bengal, 57 from Tamil Nadu, 40 from Uttar Pradesh and 35 from Delhi.

Total 1,14,031 deaths reported so far in the country include 41,965 from Maharashtra followed by 10,586 from Tamil Nadu, 10,427 from Karnataka, 6,629 from Uttar Pradesh, 6,406 from Andhra Pradesh, 5,992 from West Bengal, 5,981 from Delhi, 3,999 from Punjab and 3,626 from Gujarat.

The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent 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.