India Records 445 COVID-19 Fatalities in 24 Hours

ndia on Monday added 14,821 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the infection tally to 4,25,282.

New Delhi: India on Monday added 14,821 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the infection tally to 4,25,282, while the death toll rose to 13,699 with 445 new fatalities, according to Union health ministry data.

The country crossed the four lakh-mark on Sunday, eight days after recording three lakh COVID-19 cases, and has witnessed a surge of 2,34,747 infections from June 1 till 22.

India registered over 10,000 cases for the 11th day in a row.

The number of recoveries also continued to surge with 2,37,195 patients cured so far, while there were 1,74,387 active cases, according to the updated official figures at 8 am. One patient has migrated.

In the last 24 hours, a total of 9,440 COVID-19 patients have recovered, taking the recovery rate to 55.77%, officials said.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 69,50,493 samples have been tested up to 21 June with 1,43,267 samples being tested on Sunday.

State-wise deaths

Of the 445 fresh fatalities reported till Monday morning, 186 were from Maharashtra, 63 from Delhi, 53 from Tamil Nadu, 43 from Uttar Pradesh, 25 from Gujarat, 15 from West Bengal, 14 from Madhya Pradesh, 12 from Rajasthan, 11 from Haryana, seven from Telangana, five each from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, two from Odisha, one each from Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Puducherry and Punjab.

Of the total 13,699 deaths reported so far, Maharashtra accounted for the highest 6,170 fatalities, followed by Delhi with 2,175 deaths, Gujarat with 1,663, Tamil Nadu with 757, West Bengal with 555, Uttar Pradesh with 550, Madhya Pradesh with 515, Rajasthan with 349 and Telangana with 210 deaths.

The COVID-19 death toll reached 160 in Haryana, 137 in Karnataka, 106 in Andhra Pradesh, 99 in Punjab, 82 in Jammu and Kashmir, 53 in Bihar, 27 in Uttarakhand, 21 in Kerala and 14 in Odisha.

Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have registered 11 deaths each, Assam nine, Himachal Pradesh and Puducherry eight each, Chandigarh six, while Meghalaya, Tripura and Ladakh have reported one fatality each, according to the health ministry.

More than 70% deaths took place due to co-morbidities, it said.

State-wise cases

Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases at 1,32,075, followed by Delhi at 59,746, Tamil Nadu at 59,377, Gujarat at 27,260, Uttar Pradesh at 17,731, Rajasthan at 14,930 and West Bengal at 13,945, according to ministry data.

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 11,903 in Madhya Pradesh, 10,635 in Haryana, 9,150 in Karnataka, 8,999 in Andhra Pradesh and 7,802 in Telangana.

It has risen to 7,612 in Bihar, 5,956 in Jammu and Kashmir, 5,388 in Assam and 5,160 in Odisha. Punjab has reported 4,074 novel coronavirus infections so far, while Kerala has 3,172 cases.

A total of 2,344 people have been infected by the virus in Uttarakhand, 2,275 in Chhattisgarh, 2,073 in Jharkhand, 1,221 in Tripura, 841 in Manipur, 837 in Ladakh, 754 in Goa and 673 in Himachal Pradesh.

Chandigarh has recorded 406 COVID-19 cases, Puducherry has 366 cases, Nagaland has 211, Mizoram has 141 and Arunachal Pradesh has 135.

Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu together have reported 88 COVID-19 cases.

Sikkim has 78, Andaman and Nicobar Islands has registered 48 infections so far while Meghalaya has recorded 44 cases.

Global numbers

Across the world, there have now been 8,952,337 confirmed cases reported as of Sunday morning.

According to Johns Hopkins University, the global death toll due to COVID-19 stands at 468,331. Another 4,434,628 people have recovered from the disease.

In many countries, official data includes only deaths reported in hospitals, not those in homes or nursing homes.

The US has recorded 2,280,428 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus. Brazil is in second place with 1,083,341 cases, followed by Russia (583,879), India (425,282) and the UK (305,803).

The US has also recorded the highest death toll, with 119,969  fatalities so far. The death toll has also been high in Brazil (59,591), the UK (42,717), Italy (34,634), France (29,643) and Spain (28,323).

South Korea says it is battling ‘second wave’ of coronavirus

Health authorities in South Korea said for the first time on Monday it is in the midst of a “second wave” of novel coronavirus infections focused around its densely populated capital, stemming from a holiday in May.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) had previously said South Korea’s first wave had never really ended.

But on Monday, KCDC director Jeong Eun-kyeong said it had become clear that a holiday weekend in early May marked the beginning of a new wave of infections focused in the greater Seoul area, which had previously seen few cases.

“In the metropolitan area, we believe that the first wave was from March to April as well as February to March,” Jeong said at a regular briefing. “Then we see that the second wave which was triggered by the May holiday has been going on.”

At the end of February, South Korea reported a peak of more than 900 cases in a day, in the first large outbreak of the coronavirus outside of China.

An intensive tracking and testing campaign reduced the numbers to single digits by late April.

(With agency inputs)