79K cases in 24 hrs, 46% from Maha, AP, K’taka

India reported 79,870 more coronavirus infections on Monday, fewer than the previous Sunday when it posted the highest singleday tally of infections of any country in the pandemic. With the record surge, the total number of cases in the country now stand at 36,22,603. For the last five days, India has also been reporting over 75,000 cases every day, more than any other country has ever done.

So far, 64,487 people have succumbed to the viral infection across the country. Half of the country’s coronavirus death load has been reported from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Of the 989 deaths reported across the country in the last 24 hours, about 30.48 per cent were from Maharashtra.

The three states also account for the highest number of new cases. Of the total cases reported in the last 24 hours, 21 per cent were from Maharashtra, 13.5 per cent from Andhra Pradesh and 11.27 per cent from Karnataka.

About 70 per cent of all new cases were reported from just seven states.

Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu each accounted for 8.27 per cent of the cases, West Bengal was at 3.85 per cent while Odisha reported 3.84 per cent of the total new infections in the country.

India’s case fatality rate ( CFR) – the proportion of deaths among those who test positive for the infection – stands at 1.78 per cent, much lower than the global average of 3.34 per cent. The highest CFR has been recorded by the United Kingdom, where 12.4 per cent of those diagnosed with the infection have died, and Mexico, where 10.7 per cent have died.

There are 7,83,333 active cases of novel coronavirus disease in the country, while 27,74,801 people have recovered. The recovery rate has increased to 76.62 per cent, while the fatality rate has declined to 1.78 per cent. The last five lakh recoveries have been recorded in only eight days, whereas the same number of recoveries were earlier recorded in 10 and nine days respectively.

States that have been reporting the highest number of cases and deaths have been asked by the Union health ministry to undertake higher testing and effective clinical management to save lives.