New COVID-19 cases in India dip below 50,000 for first time in nearly three months

PTI, Oct 20, 2020, 12:18 PM IST

New Delhi: The number of new coronavirus infections reported daily in India dropped below 50,000 for the first time in nearly three months, taking the COVID-19 caseload to 75,97,063 on Tuesday, according to the Union Health Ministry.

A total of 46,790 fresh infections were reported in a day, while the death toll climbed to 1,15,197 with 587 fatalities being registered in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The number of new fatalities reported daily across the country was recorded below 600 for the second consecutive day.

The total recoveries crossed 67 lakh while active cases of coronavirus infection remained below 8 lakh for the fourth consecutive day.

The country had reported 47,703 new infections in a day on July 28.

There are 7,48,538 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 9.85 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

A total 67,33,328 people have recuperated from the disease so far pushing the national recovery rate to 88.63 per cent while the case fatality rate due COVID-19 stands at 1.52 per cent.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23 and 40 lakh on September. It went past 50 lakh on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28 and crossed 70 lakh on October 11.

According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 9,61,16,771 samples have been tested up to October 19 with 10,32,795 samples being tested on Monday.

The 579 new fatalities include 125 from Maharashtra, 64 from Karnataka, 63 from West Bengal, 56 from Chhattisgarh, 49 from Tamil Nadu, and 31 from Delhi.

A total of 1,15,197 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 42,240 from Maharashtra followed by 10,691 from Tamil Nadu, 10,542 from Karnataka, 6,685 from Uttar Pradesh, 6,453 from Andhra Pradesh, 6,119 from West Bengal, 6,040 from Delhi, 4,029 from Punjab and 3,643 from Gujarat.

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.