India's COVID tally nears 24 lakh mark with highest single-day spike of 66,999 cases

New Delhi [India], August 13 (ANI): With the highest single-day spike of 66,999 cases, India's COVID count approached 24 lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry on Thursday.
The Health Ministry said that India has recorded the highest-ever recoveries of 56,383 in a single day.
The total coronavirus cases stand at 23,96,638, of which there are 6,53,622 active cases and 16,95,982 patients have been cured, discharged, or migrated, said the Ministry of Health.
In the last 24 hours, 942 patients have succumbed to the virus, taking the death toll to 47,033 in the country.
With 8,30,391 samples on August 12, the highest in a single day, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has tested 2,68,45,688 samples so far.
As per the Ministry, Maharashtra continues to be the worst affected state from the infection with 1,47,820 active cases, and 18,650 fatalities. The number of recovered cases have reached 3,81,843 after 13,408 more patients have recovered on Thursday.
Maharashtra is followed by Andhra Pradesh in terms of active COVID-19 cases.
Currently, Andhra Pradesh has 90,425 active cases and 1,61,425 recoveries while 2,296 patients have died due to the virus.
As many as 78 new COVID cases took the active number count in Delhi to 10,946. The total number of recovered patients stands at 1,33,405 while 4,153 fatalities have been reported in the national capital.
With 56,383 single-day recoveries, the number of total recovered COVID-19 patients has touched nearly 17 lakhs (16,95,982) on Thursday, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
With the increasing number of recoveries, while the Recovery Rate has crossed 70 per cent (70.77 per cent today), the case mortality among COVID patients has further regressed to 1.96 per cent, and is steadily declining, the Ministry said in a press release.
It further said that the record high recoveries have ensured that the actual caseload of the country, which is the active cases, has reduced and currently is only 27.27 per cent of the total positive cases. The recoveries exceed the active cases (6,53,622) by more than 10 lakhs.
Uttar Pradesh has 49,347 active coronavirus cases, 84,661 recovered patients and 2,230 fatalities. In Bihar, there are 30,119 active cases and the number of recovered cases stands at 59,786 and 416 have died.
The total number of active cases in Karnataka reached 80,351 after 737 new COVID cases. The state has reported 1,12,633 recoveries and 3,510 have succumbed to the virus.
Another southern state of the country, Kerala has reported 13,096 active cases, 24,922 recoveries and 126 deaths.
With 119 new cases reported since yesterday, Tamil Nadu has reported 52,929 active cases. However, 5,633 patients recovered, taking the cumulative count of recovered cases to 2,56,313 in the state.
After reporting 157 new COVID-19 cases, West Bengal has 26,003 active cases. The number of recovered cases rose to 76,120 and the number of fatalities stands at 2,203 in the state.
In Assam, the count of active cases reached 21,629 after 2,451 new cases were reported and the recovered case count stood at 47,209.
Madhya Pradesh has 9317 active cases while 31,239 patients were cured/recovered/migrated and 1,048 have died.
As many as 608 new COVID-19 cases were reported from Rajasthan till 10.30 am on Thursday, taking the total coronavirus cases in the state to 56,708, the State Health Department said.
According to the official data, the state currently has 14,056 active cases and 41,819 recovered cases. A total of 833 people have lost their lives to COVID-19.
Telangana Health Department informed that the total number of cases includes 63,074 recoveries and 665 deaths as of August 13. At present, 22,736 COVID-19 patients are isolated and being treated.
Meanwhile, the Union Government has distributed more than 3.04 crore N95 masks and more than 1.28 crore PPE kits to States / UTs / Central Institutions, free of cost since March 11. Also, more than 10.83 crore HCQ tablets have been distributed to them, stated a press release by Press Information Bureau
In addition, 22,533 ventilators have been delivered under the 'Make in India' programme. (ANI)