India's Covid-19 tally races past 17 lakh; July alone saw 65% of total cases

India's Covid-19 tally of cases went past 17 lakh on Saturday evening, of which 11.1 lakh were reported in July alone thus accounting for about 65.48 percent of the total instances of the viral infection reported in the country so far.

While around 7.32 lakh new cases were registered between July 15 and 31, the past month also so 19,111 lives lost due to the disease, which is around 52.34 percent of the total 36,511 deaths recorded so far.

According to Union health ministry data updated at 8 am on Saturday, the country recorded 57,118 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours taking the tally to 16,95,988, while the death toll increased to 36,511 with 764 people succumbing to the disease during the same period.

At the same time, the number of recoveries too surged to 10,94,374.

This was the third consecutive day that Covid-19 cases have increased by more than 50,000.

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However, by the evening, a PTI tally of figures showed that India's Covid-19 count has crossed the 17-lakh mark and the number of recoveries has gone past 11 lakh. The tally has been compiled with information provided by respective states and union territories.

The health ministry had in the morning reported that there are 5,65,103 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country. The recovery rate among Covid-19 patients was recorded at 64.53 percent, while the fatality rate had further dropped to 2.15 percent, the data showed.

The total number of confirmed cases also includes foreigners.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), cumulatively 1,93,58,659 samples have been tested up to July 31 with 5,25,689 of them on Friday.

Of the new 764 deaths reported on Saturday, 265 are from Maharashtra, 97 from Tamil Nadu, 84 from Karnataka, 68 from Andhra Pradesh, 45 from West Bengal, 43 from Uttar Pradesh, 27 from Delhi, 23 from Gujarat, 16 from Punjab, 14 each from Bihar and Telangana, 12 from Jammu and Kashmir and 11 from Rajasthan.

Ten fatalities have been reported from Madhya Pradesh, eight from Odisha, four each from Assam, Haryana and Uttarakhand, three each from Goa, Jharkhand, Kerala, two from Chhattisgarh while the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Manipur and Puducherry registered one fatality each.

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Of the total 36,511 deaths, Maharashtra has reported the maximum at 14,994, followed by 3,963 in Delhi, 3,935 in Tamil Nadu, 2,441 in Gujarat, 2,314 in Karnataka, 1,630 in Uttar Pradesh, 1,581 in West Bengal, 1,349 in Andhra Pradesh and 867 in Madhya Pradesh, the data showed.

So far, 674 people have died of Covid-19 in Rajasthan, 519 in Telangana, 421 in Haryana, 386 in Punjab, 377 in Jammu and Kashmir, 296 in Bihar, 177 in Odisha, 106 in Jharkhand, 98 in Assam, 80 in Uttarakhand, 73 in Kerala, according to the health ministry data.

Chhattisgarh has registered 53 deaths, Puducherry 49, Goa 45, Tripura 21, Chandigarh 15, Himachal Pradesh 14, Ladakh seven, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur and Andaman and Nicobar Islands five each, Arunachal Pradesh three, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu two and Sikkim one, the health ministry data showed.

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

"Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.