In a first in 3 months, India’s COVID-19 death toll dips below 600

The number of new coronavirus infections reported daily in India dropped below 60,000 for the second time this month, while the number of new fatalities registered in a day, dipped below 600 almost after three months, the Union Health Ministry data stated on Monday.

The total cases mounted to 75,50,273 with 55,722 new infections being reported in a day. The death toll climbed to 1,14,610 with 579 fatalities being registered in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed. India had last registered daily cases below 60,000 on October 13. Meanwhile, the active COVID-19 cases remained below 8 lakh for the third consecutive day.

At present, there are 7,72,055 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 10.23 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated. The national recovery rate has improved to 88.26 per cent while the case fatality rate stands at 1.52 per cent.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23 and 40 lakh on September 5. It went past the 50 lakh on September 16, crossed the 60 lakh mark on September 28 and crossed 70 lakh on October 11.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 9,50,83,976 samples have been tested up to October 18 with 8,59,786 samples being tested on Sunday.