43% Covid cases from Maha, Andhra, Karnataka: Centre

Around 43 per cent of the total coronavirus cases in India have been recorded from just three states, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, the Union health ministry said on Monday.

It asserted that the Centre is regularly engaging with the states and Union Territories that are reporting a spurt in cases and those with a higher fatality rate.

Such states and Union Territories have been advised to undertake aggressive measures to ensure higher testing, effective clinical management to lower fatality and save lives along with efficient monitoring at various levels, the health ministry said.

'India has registered 78,512 cases in the last 24 hours (August 30). Hence the report by certain media entities of about 80,000 cases in the last 24 hours is without any basis,' it said.

The ministry also said that seven states have contributed to 70 per cent of these new cases in the last 24 hours.

Of these, Maharashtra has contributed the maximum caseload amounting to almost 21 per cent, followed by Andhra Pradesh 13.5 per cent, Karnataka 11.27 per cent and Tamil Nadu with 8.27 per cent.

Of the total number of cases, around 43 per cent were recorded in just three states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, it said.

Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka also account for about 50 per cent of the deaths added in the last 24 hours due to COVID-19, with Maharashtra leading with 30.48 per cent, the ministry said.

The coronavirus tally in India crossed 36 lakh on Monday with 78,512 new cases, while the number of recoveries surged to 27,74,801, pushing the recovery rate to 76.62 per cent, according to the health ministry data.

The death toll climbed to 64,469 with 971 more people succumbing to the infection in 24 hours.

India has exhibited a determination to expand testing. This has led to an exponential hike in the number of COVID-19 testing, the ministry said.

Starting from a single test in one lab in Pune in January, the daily testing capacity has been scaled up to more than 10 lakh in August 2020.

The cumulative tests have crossed 4.23 crore with 8,46,278 tests conducted in the past 24 hours.