New Delhi: India recorded 50,129 fresh cases of COVID-19 during the past 24 hours, pushing the country caseload to 78.64 lakh while the death toll soared to 1,18,534 with 578 fresh fatalities.
According to Union Health Ministry, the active cases saw a drop of 12,526 and currently stood at 6,68,154. It is 8.50 per cent of the total caseload.
Maharashtra accounted for 137 of the day’s fatalities followed by 59 from West Bengal, 55 from Chhattisgarh, 52 from Karnataka, 36 from Delhi, 35 from Tamil Nadu, 25 Kerala and 25 from Uttar Pradesh.
On positive note, the frontline medics were able to save 62,077 more lives, taking the total recovery count to 70,78,123, which is exactly 90 per cent of the caseload. The fatality rate stood at 1.51 per cent.
As per Indian Council of Medical Research, 11,40,905 samples were tested on Friday, taking to 10,25,23,469 the total.
The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11. To date, more than 42.9 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, with over 1.15 million fatalities. Exactly 13 days later, India announced a stringent 21-day nationwide lockdown from March 25, however, as the cases kept rising, the lockdown kept extending till May 30 after which the country started lifting the restrictions in order to revive the battered economy.
Notably, today, India will first time observe the festival of Vijayadashami, the day of victory, amid pandemic.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been constantly urging the citizens to strictly follow the COVID-19 guidelines. In a televised address to the nation on Tuesday, Mr Modi appealed to all the countrymen to be extra careful during the festival season, as, according to him, the lockdown was over but the virus was not over ye
