Health workers India covid coronavirus Mumbai slum
Health workers in personal protective equipment rest during a check up campaign for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a slum area in Mumbai, India, August 3, 2020. Image Credit: Reuters

New Delhi: India saw a single day increase of 56,282 COVID-19 cases taking the country’s virus tally to 1,964,536, while the recoveries have surged to 1,328,336, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

The death toll due to COVID-19 climbed to 40,699 with 904 new fatalities being reported in 24 hours, the data updated at 8am showed.

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There are 595,501 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country presently which contribute to 30.31 per cent of the total cases.

The fatality rate has further dropped to 2.07 per cent, the data stated.

This is the eighth consecutive day that COVID-19 cases have increased by more than 50,000.

According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 22 million samples have been tested up to August 5 with 664,949 samples being tested on Wednesday.

Of the 904 fresh deaths reported, 334 are from Maharashtra, 112 from Tamil Nadu, 100 from Karnataka, 77 from Andhra Pradesh, 61 from West Bengal, 40 from Uttar Pradesh, 29 from Punjab, 23 from Gujarat, 17 from Madhya Pradesh, 13 each from Rajasthan and Telangana, 11 from Delhi and Nine each from Jammu and Kashmir and Odisha.

Of the total 40,699 deaths, Maharashtra has reported the maximum at 16,476 followed by 4,461 in Tamil Nadu, 4,044 in Delhi, 2,804 in Karnataka, 2,556 in Gujarat, 1,857 in Uttar Pradesh, 1,846 in West Bengal, 1,681 in Andhra Pradesh and 929 in Madhya Pradesh.

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