COVID cases cross 35-lakh mark in India; over 4 crore tests done

India crossed the 35-lakh mark in COVID-19 cases as the country reported 42,944 fresh cases as of 8.00 pm on Saturday (August 29). The total number of cases increased to 35,04,177, while the death toll rose to 63,143 with 429 new fatalities. So far, 4,04,06,609 samples have been tested across the country.

India’s COVID-19 recoveries have crossed 26 lakh pushing the recovery rate to 76.47 per cent. The case fatality rate (CFR) has also been low when compared to the global average. With 35,228 patients having recuperated, the total number of recoveries have surged to 26,82,766. As many as 7,57,687 cases are active.

For every million population, India’s coronavirus cases and fatalities are one of the lowest compared to the global averages, the high-level Group of Ministers (GoM) on COVID-19 was informed on Saturday. At its 20th meeting, the GoM on COVID-19 was briefed on the current status of the coronavirus outbreak in India.

As of Saturday, eight states — Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana — contribute around 73 per cent of the active caseload. Seven states — Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal — account for 81 per cent of total deaths.

Tamil Nadu reported over 6,000 fresh coronavirus cases on Saturday, pushing the overall tally beyond 4.15 lakh as the number of deaths stood at 7,137, including 87 new fatalities. The state reported new infections in excess of 6,000 after quite some time, as it logged in excess of only 5,000 daily cases for the past many days.

The rapid surge of coronavirus cases continued in Andhra Pradesh as more than 10,000 were added afresh for the fourth day in a row. With 10,548 new cases, the states overall COVID-19 tally rose to 4,14,164. As many as 8,976 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours while 82 more succumbed to the pandemic.

Karnataka reported 8,324 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total infection count to 3,27,076, while the toll reached 5,483 with 115 deaths. The day also saw 8,110 people getting discharged, increasing the total recoveries to 2,35,128. Bengaluru Urban accounted for the maximum numbers of fresh cases reported at 2,993.

As many as 62 more people died of COVID-19 in Uttar Pradesh pushing the death toll to 3,356, while 5,684 new cases took the states infection tally to 2,19,457, according to an official statement. The latest COVID-19 deaths reported include seven fatalities each in Kanpur and Prayagraj and four in Bareilly, the statement said.

Telangana logged 2,751 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the tally to 1,20,166, while the death toll rose to 808 with nine more fatalities. Aggressive testing continued in the state with as many as 62,300 samples being tested on August 28. Cumulatively, 12,66,643 samples have been tested. The samples tested per million population was 34,117.

Rajasthan recorded eight more fatalities due to the novel coronavirus on Saturday, taking the death toll from the disease to 1,025 in the state while 595 new infections pushed the virus count to 77,965. A total of 14,697 COVID-19 patients are under treatment. The official said so far 61,555 people have been discharged from hospitals.