56,282 new cases push India's COVID-19 count to nearly 20 lakh

India saw a single-day increase of 56,282 cases taking the country’s COVID-19 tally to 19,64,536 on Thursday (Aug 6), while the recoveries have surged to 13,28,336 and comprise 67.62 per cent of the total caseload, according to the Union Health Ministry data. The total number is expected to race past 2 million cases soon.

The death toll due to COVID-19 climbed to 40,699 with 904 new fatalities being reported in 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.

There are 5,95,501 active COVID-19 cases in the country presently which contribute 30.31 per cent of the total cases. The fatality rate has further dropped to 2.07 per cent, the data stated.

This is the eighth consecutive day that COVID-19 cases have increased by more than 50,000.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 2,21,49,351 samples have been tested up to August 5 with 6,64,949 samples being tested on Wednesday.

Maharashtra remained at the top with the most number of coronavirus infections with 10,309 fresh cases on Wednesday taking the to 4,68,265.

Tamil Nadu reported a shocking highest single-day death toll of 112 patients due to COVID. 5,175 cases were reported in the southern state on Wednesday with recoveries outnumbering reported cases at 6,031.

Of the 904 fresh deaths reported, 334 are from Maharashtra, 112 from Tamil Nadu, 100 from Karnataka, 77 from Andhra Pradesh, 61 from West Bengal, 40 from Uttar Pradesh, 29 from Punjab, 23 from Gujarat,  17 from Madhya Pradesh, 13 each from Rajasthan and Telangana, 11 from Delhi and Nine each from Jammu and Kashmir and Odisha.

Eight fatalities each have been reported from Bihar and Jharkhand, seven each from Haryana, Kerala and Puducherry, six from Assam, four from Goa, three from Uttarakhand, two each from Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Chhattisgarh, while Nagaland and Tripura have registered one fatality each.

Of the total 40,699 deaths, Maharashtra has reported the maximum at 16,476 followed by 4,461 in Tamil Nadu, 4,044 in Delhi, 2,804 in Karnataka, 2,556 in Gujarat, 1,857 in Uttar Pradesh, 1,846 in West Bengal, 1,681 in Andhra Pradesh and 929 in Madhya Pradesh. So far, 745 people have died of COVID-19 in Rajasthan, 589 in Telangana, 491 in Punjab, 455 in Haryana, 426 in Jammu and Kashmir, 355 in Bihar, 225 in Odisha, 136 in Jharkhand, 121 in Assam, 98 in Uttarakhand, 94 in Kerala.

The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

Ramping up efforts to introduce a vaccine for the deadly virus, Indian pharmaceutical company Zydus Cadilla has stated that it will begin the second phase of the trials for its coronavirus vaccine candidate, ZyCoV-D, which was found to be safe in the first round of trials.