India reports a slight spike in Covid infections, with 4,03,738 new cases

With the second wave of the pandemic refusing to ebb, India on Saturday reported 4,03,738 new Covid-19 infections. Saturday’s tally was slightly higher from that of Friday’s when the country reported 4,01,078 new infections.

India also logged 4,092 new Covid fatalities during the last 24 hours, which pushed the national death toll to 2,42,362. Saturday’s death toll, however, was marginally less compared to that of Friday’s when the country reported a record 4,187 fatalities.

The latest addition has pushed India’s total caseload to 2,22,96,414, according to Union health ministry data.

Registering a steady increase, the active cases have increased to 37,36,648, comprising 16.76 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate was recorded at 82.15 per cent, health ministry data updated at 8 am today stated.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,83,17,404 with 3,86,444 patients recovering in a day, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.09 per cent, the data stated.

India's Covid-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.

It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the 1-crore mark on December 19.

India crossed the grim milestone of 2 crore on May 4.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 30,22,75,471 samples have been tested up to May 8 with 18,65,428 samples being tested on Saturday.

The 4,092 new fatalities include 864 from Maharashtra, 482 from Karnataka, 332 from Delhi, 297 from Uttar Pradesh, 241 from Tamil Nadu, 223 from Chhattisgarh, 171 from Punjab, 160 from Rajasthan, 155 from Haryana, 141 from Jharkhand, 127 from West Bengal, 119 from Gujarat and 118 from Uttarakhand.

A total of 2,42,362 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 75,277 from Maharashtra, 19,071 from Delhi, 18,286 from Karnataka, 15,412 from Tamil Nadu, 15,170 from Uttar Pradesh, 12,203 from West Bengal, 10,381 from Chhattisgarh and 10,315 from Punjab.

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

"Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.