India takes 13 days to cross 40 lakh COVID-19 cases from 30 lakh; record 86,432 infections reported in a day

New Delhi: India's COVID-19 infection tally sprinted past 40 lakh, just 13 days after it crossed 30 lakh, with a record 86,432 cases being reported in a day, while recoveries have surged to 31,07,223 on Saturday pushing the recovery rate to 77.23 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry.

The total coronavirus cases mounted to 40,23,179, while the death toll climbed to 69,561 with 1,089 people succumbing to the disease in a span of 24 hours, data updated at 8 am showed.

India's COVID-19 cases jumped from 10 lakh to 20 lakh in 21 days. It took 16 more days to race past 30 lakh and 13 days more to cross the 40-lakh mark.

It took 110 days for the COVID-19 cases in the country to reach one lakh while it had taken 59 days more to go past the 10-lakh post.

The COVID-19 case fatality rate due to the novel coronavirus infection has further declined to 1.73 per cent.

There are 8,46,395 active cases of coronavirus infection, which is 21.04 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7 and went past 30 lakh on August 23.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 4,77,38,491 samples have been tested up to September 4 with 10,59,346 samples being tested on Friday.

Of the 1,089 fresh deaths, 378 are from Maharashtra, 116 from Karnataka, 79 from Tamil Nadu, 76 from Andhra Pradesh, 71 from Uttar Pradesh, 58 from West Bengal, 49 from Punjab, 30 from Madhya Pradesh, 29 from Bihar, 22 from Chhattisgarh, 20 from Puducherry, 19 from Haryana, 15 from Assam, 14 from Gujarat, 13 each from Delhi and Rajasthan.

Twelve fatalities each have been reported from Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand, 11 each from Kerala and Telangana, nine from Odisha, eight from Goa, seven from Tripura, five from Chandigarh, three each from Jharkhand and Manipur, two from Himachal Pradesh while Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Nagaland have registered one fatality each.

Of the total 69,561 deaths, Maharashtra has reported the maximum at 25,964, followed by 7,687 in Tamil Nadu, 6,170 in Karnataka, 4,513 in Delhi, 4,276 in Andhra Pradesh, 3,762 in Uttar Pradesh, 3,452 in West Bengal, 3,076 in Gujarat and 1,739 in Punjab.

So far, 1,513 people have died of COVID-19 in Madhya Pradesh, 1,108 in Rajasthan, 877 in Telangana, 759 in Haryana, 755 in Jammu and Kashmir, 701 in Bihar, 531 in Odisha, 447 in Jharkhand, 345 in Assam, 337 in Chhattisgarh, 326 in Kerala and 312 in Uttarakhand.

Puducherry has registered 280 fatalities, Goa 220, Tripura 136, Chandigarh 68, Himachal Pradesh 50, Andaman and Nicobar Islands 49, Ladakh and Manipur 35 each, Meghalaya 14, Nagaland 10, Arunachal Pradesh seven, Sikkim five and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu two.

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.