India's COVID-19 tally crosses 24-lakh mark; 42,379 fresh cases reported

India’s COVID-19 tally crossed the 24-lakh mark on Thursday (August 13), with 42,379 fresh infections being reported over the last 24 hours, taking the total to 24,37,850.

The number of patients who have recovered from the disease surged to 17,28,534, according to data given by covid19india.org.

The death toll due to COVID-19 climbed to 47,598 with 460 people succumbing to the disease in the last 24 hours, the data updated at 9.13 pm showed.

There are 6,61,244 active COVID-19 cases in the country presently.

India crossed the 20-lakh mark in terms of COVID-19 cases on August 7.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 2,68,45,688 samples were tested in the country till August 12, including 8,30,391 tested on Wednesday, the highest number of tests performed in a day.

How are the states faring?

Maharashtra

Maharashtra registered a spike of 11,813 new cases on Thursday which took the coronavirus tally in the state to 5,60,126.

With 413 COVID-19 patients succumbing to the disease, the death toll in the state reached 19,063, the state health department said.

On the other hand, 9,115 patients were discharged from hospitals, it said. So far 3,90,948 COVID-19 patients have recovered in Maharashtra while there are 1,49,798 active cases.

Around 29,76,090 people have been tested so far.

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu on Thursday recorded 5,835 new coronavirus cases and 119 deaths, taking the tally to 3,20,355 and the toll to 5,397.

Meanwhile, as many as 40 police personnel who recovered from COVID- 19 donated plasma following an appeal from Chief Minister K Palaniswami to the people to help others by giving the blood component which has antibodies to the virus.

In all, 112 had comorbidities as the state continued to record deaths in three digits for the past several days. The state’s death total toll includes 2,384 people from Chennai.

As many as 67,275 samples were put to the RT-PCR test and 34,99,300 is the aggregate number of specimens examined so far, the bulletin said.

From several hospitals, 5,146 patients got discharged and 2,61,459 people have recovered till date while the active cases stood at 53,499.

Police said after medical screening, as many as 38 from the Armed Reserve and two women personnel donated plasma in the presence of Health Minister C Vijayabaskar, Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan and Police Commissioner Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal.

“The Chief Minister appreciated the gesture of police personnel, who are doing duty at the forefront of war against coronavirus and have also come forward to donate plasma for treating the COVID-19 patients,” a city police release said.

Andhra Pradesh

The COVID-19 tally shot up to 2,64,142 in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday as 9,996 fresh cases were reported in the last 24 hours.

The state also registered 82 more coronavirus deaths, taking the overall toll to 2,378.

Around 9,499 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours after they recovered from the viral infection, making it a cumulative of 1,70,924 recoveries so far.

The state now has 90,840 active COVID-19 cases, the bulletin added. After 27,05,459 sample tests, the COVID-19 positivity rate climbed further to 9.76 per cent.

COVID-19 infections breach 2-lakh mark in Karnataka

The number of COVID-19 infections breached the two-lakh mark in Karnataka on Thursday as the state reported 6,706 new cases of coronavirus and 103 related fatalities, taking the death toll to 3,613.

The day also saw recoveries overtaking the number of new cases, with 8,609 patients getting discharged.

Out of 6,706 fresh cases reported on Thursday, 1,893 cases were from Bengaluru urban alone.

As of August 13 evening, cumulatively 2,03,200 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 3,613 deaths and 1,21,242 discharges.

Kerala

Kerala posted its highest ever single day spike of 1,564 COVID-19 cases, including 15 health care workers, on Thursday, as the total infection count in the state touched 39,708.

Health Minister K K Shailaja said 766 people have recovered from the disease on Thursday, taking the total number of those cured to 25,692.

Of the new cases detected on Thursday, 1,380 were locally transmitted. “1,380 cases were locally transmitted and the contact source of 98 was not traceable. While 60 returned to the state from abroad, 100 came from other states. The state also reported three deaths on Thursday,” the Minister said in a release.

With three more deaths, the COVID-19 toll climbed to 129.