India now second worst-hit Covid country in the world
Record high of 168,912 daily new infections pushes it past Brazil; overall deaths rise to 170,179
India has surpassed Brazil to record the secondhighest number of Covid19 cases at 13,527,717, as a record 168,912 new infections were reported in a day.
The active cases have surpassed the 1.2-million mark, while the death toll increased to 170,179 with 904 new fatalities in a day, the highest since October 18, 2020, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated at 8 am on Monday.
The national Covid-19 recovery rate has fallen below 90 per cent.
According to the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) data, India has overtaken Brazil, which is now at the third spot in the Covid tally with 13,482,023 cases.
The US has the highest number of cases at 31,198,055 while globally 136,136,954 cases have been reported.
Registering a steady increase for the 33rd day in a row, the active cases have increased to 1,201,009 in India comprising 8.88 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate has further dropped to 89.86 per cent.
Before the latest surge, the active caseload was at its highest at 1,017,754 on September 18, 2020 and had decreased to 135,926 on February 12.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 12,156,529, while the case fatality rate has further dropped to 1.26 per cent, the data stated.
India's Covid-19 tally had crossed the 2-million mark on August 7, 3 million on August 23, 4 million on September 5 and 5 million on September 16.
It went past 6 million on September 28, 7 million on October 11, crossed 8 million on October 29, 9 million on November 20 and surpassed the 10-million mark on December 19.
According to the ICMR, 257,806,986 samples have been tested up to April 11 with 1,180,136 samples being tested on Sunday.
The 904 new fatalities include 349 from Maharashtra, 122 from Chhattisgarh, 67 from Uttar Pradesh, 59 from Punjab, 54 from Gujarat, 48 from Delhi, 40 from Karnataka, 24 from Madhya Pradesh, 22 from Tamil Nadu, 21 from Jharkhand, 16 each from Kerala and Haryana and 10 each from Rajasthan and West Bengal.
A total of 170,179 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 57,987 from Maharashtra, 12,908 from Tamil Nadu, 12,889 from Karnataka, 11,283 from Delhi, 10,400 from West Bengal, 9,152 from Uttar Pradesh, 7,507 from Punjab and 7,300 from Andhra 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.