India’s active COVID-19 cases cross 1.5L mark again as infections surge in some States

PTI, Feb 23, 2021, 7:58 AM IST

New Delhi: India’s COVID-19 tally surpassed 1.10 crore on Monday with 14,199 new infections while the number of active cases increased for the fifth consecutive day and went past 1.5 lakh after a gap of 17 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in the country stands at 1,10,05,850. The death toll increased to 1,56,385 with 83 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

India added 4,421 active COVID-19 cases on Monday, the biggest jump since November 26.

With this, the number of active cases increased to 1,50,055, which constitutes 1.36 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

Active cases were last recorded above the 1.5-lakh mark, at 1,51,460, on February 5.

According to the health ministry, the surge in active cases is due to a spike in the number of daily infections in Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,06,99,410, which translates to a national COVID-19 recovery rate of 97.22 per cent. The case fatality rate stands at 1.42 per cent.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7 last year, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.

It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, 21,15,51,746 samples had been tested until February 21 with 6,20,216 tested on Sunday.

The 83 new fatalities include 35 from Maharashtra, 15 from Kerala, six from Punjab, five from Chhattisgarh and four from Madhya Pradesh.

A total of 1,56,385 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 51,788 from Maharashtra, 12,460 from Tamil Nadu, 12,294 from Karnataka, 10,900 from Delhi, 10,249 from West Bengal, 8,715 from Uttar Pradesh and 7,167 from Andhra Pradesh.

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.