India's COVID tally surges past 14.8 lakh with 47,703 cases in 24 hours

With a single-day increase of 47,703 COVID-19 cases, India's virus tally mounted to 14,83,156 on Tuesday, while the recoveries surged to 9,52,743 pushing the recovery rate to 64.24 per cent, according to the Union health ministry data.

The country's death toll due to the virus rose to 33,425 with 654 deaths being reported in a 24-hour span, the data updated at 8 am showed.

There are 4,96,988 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country presently. According to the data, the recovery rate among COVID-19 patients is 64.24 per cent while the fatality-rate is 2.25 per cent.

The total number of confirmed cases also includes foreigners.

This is the sixth consecutive day that COVID-19 cases have increased by more than 45,000.

Of the 654 deaths reported, 227 are from Maharashtra, 77 from Tamil Nadu, 75 from Karnataka, 49 from Andhra Pradesh, 39 from West Bengal, 30 from Uttar Pradesh, 26 from Delhi, 22 from Gujarat, 17 from Telangana, 12 from Punjab, and 10 from Rajasthan.

Nine fatalities each have been reported from Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, seven each from Assam and Odisha, five from Haryana, four each from Tripura and Jharkhand, three each from Puducherry and Uttarakhand, two each from Himachal Pradesh and Kerala, and one each from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Nagaland and Sikkim.

Of the total 33,425 deaths reported so far, Maharashtra has reported the maximum at 13,883, followed by 3,853 in Delhi, 3,571 in Tamil Nadu, 2,348 in Gujarat, 1,953 in Karnataka, 1,456 in Uttar Pradesh, 1,411 in West Bengal, 1,090 in Andhra Pradesh and 820 in Madhya Pradesh.

So far, 631 people have died of COVID-19 in Rajasthan, 480 in Telangana, 397 in Haryana, 321 in Jammu and Kashmir, 318 in Punjab, 253 in Bihar, 147 in Odisha, 89 in Jharkhand, 86 in Assam, 66 in Uttarakhand and 63 in Kerala.

Chhattisgarh has registered 44 deaths, Puducherry 43, Goa 36, Tripura 17, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh 14 each, Meghalaya and Nagaland five each, Ladakh four, Arunachal Pradesh three, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu two and Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Sikkim one each.

The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to co-morbidities.

"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.