COVID-19 tally in India breaches 49-lakh mark

India's COVID-19 caseload sprinted past 49 lakh with 83,809 people testing positive in a day, while 38,59,399 people have recuperated so far taking the national recovery rate to 78.28 per cent on Tuesday, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

The total coronavirus cases mounted to 49,30,236, while the death toll climbed to 80,776  with 1,054 people succumbing to the disease in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The COVID-19 case fatality rate due to the coronavirus infection was recorded at 1.64 per cent.

There are  9,90,061 active cases of COVID-19 in the country which comprises 20.08 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

India''s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23 and it went past 40 lakh on September 5.

According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 5,83,12,273 samples have been tested up to September 14 with 10,72,845 samples being tested on Monday.

India is at the number one position in terms of the number of recovered coronavirus cases followed by Brazil and the US, according to the Johns Hopkins University, which has been compiling COVID-19 data from all over the world.

India is the second worst-hit nation in terms of COVID-19 cases after the US, while it is at the third spot in terms of fatalities globally after the US and Brazil, according to the JHU data.

Of the 1,054 new deaths, 363 are from Maharashtra, 119 from Karnataka, 68  from Punjab, 62 from Uttar Pradesh, 60 from Andhra Pradesh,  58 from West Bengal,  53 from Tamil Nadu, 29 from  Madhya Pradesh, 26 from Delhi, 25 from Haryana, 18 from Chhattisgarh, 17 each from Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir, 15 each from Kerala and Uttarakhand and 14 each from Rajasthan and Goa.

Thirteen fatalities have been reported from Assam, 11 from Odisha, 10 from Telangana, nine each from Bihar and Puducherry, seven from Tripura, six from Jharkhand, five each from Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh, two from Sikkim while Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Ladakh have registered one fatality each.

A total of 80,776 deaths have been reported so far in the country includes 29,894 from Maharashtra followed by 8,434 from Tamil Nadu, 7,384 from Karnataka, 4,972 from Andhra Pradesh, 4,770 from Delhi, 4,491 from Uttar Pradesh, 4,003 from West Bengal, 3,227 from Gujarat and 2,424 from Punjab and 1,791 from Madhya Pradesh.

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.