India records 64,399 new COVID cases; recovery rate rises to 68.78 pc

PTI, Aug 9, 2020, 10:40 AM IST

New Delhi: With a record single-day spike of 64,399 cases, India’s COVID-19 tally zoomed past 21 lakh on Sunday, August 9, while the death toll climbed to 43,379 with 861 more fatalities, the Health Ministry said.

The number of recoveries surged to 14,80,884 with record 53,879 more people recuperating in the past 24 hours, taking the recovery rate to 68.78 percent, The case fatality rate has dropped 2.01 percent, according to ministry data.

“There are 6,28,747 active cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), comprising 29.20 percent of the total caseload in the country. The total coronavirus cases have mounted to 21,53,010,” it said.

This is the third consecutive day that the COVID-19 cases have increased by more than 60,000. India had crossed the 20-lakh mark on Friday.

As many as 7,19,364 samples were tested on Saturday, the highest in a day so far. A total of 2,41,06,535 samples have been tested so far, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research.

“India is performing around 500 tests for detection of COVID-19 per minute and the per-day testing capacity has increased over five lakhs,” scientist and ICMR media coordinator Lokesh Sharma.