Over 40,000 Covid deaths in India now, record 918 on Wed

NEW DELHI: Deaths from Covid-19 in India crossed the 40,000 mark, the fifth highest in the world, even as the country recorded its biggest single-day surge in fatalities at 918 on Wednesday, with the count crossing 900 for the first time.
Fresh cases too surged to 56,695 on Wednesday, the second-highest in a day so far, after a slight dip over the past two days, as per data collated from state governments. The country’s Covid-19 caseload stood at 19,61,357.
Although India’s coronavirus mortality rate is one of the lowest among the worst-hit countries, the death toll has been rising sharply with a spurt in cases in recent days. The country has recorded 20,000 deaths in the past 30 days, with the last 10,000 coming in 13 days and nearly 5,000 in the past six days.
The previous highest daily Covid-19 toll was 848 recorded on August 1. On Wednesday, at least seven states/UTs reported their highest daily death tolls, led by Maharashtra, which reported as many as 334 fatalities. The other states were Tamil Nadu (112 deaths), Andhra Pradesh (77), Bengal (61), Punjab (29), Bihar (22) and Puducherry (7).
Karnataka recorded 100 deaths, although the state has reported higher numbers in the recent past. Delhi, on the other hand, reported 11 deaths, its lowest single-day toll in over a month.
Both Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh reported fresh cases in excess of 10,000 on Wednesday, with Maharashtra reporting 10,309 and Andhra 10,128. At least four states/UTs reported their highest jump in infections — Bengal (2816 cases), Assam (2,886), Goa (348) and Puducherry (286).
In Maharashtra, on the 150th day since the first Covid19 case was reported, the state reported 334 deaths, its highest in a single day so far. The state added 10,309 new Covid19 cases on Wednesday taking the total Covid cases in the state to 4,68,265 and fatalities to 16,476. Pune became the second district after Mumbai to enter the dubious club of one lakh cases.

In a happy milestone for the state, the number of recoveries crossed the 3-lakh mark to touch 3,05,521. The state’s recovery rate rose to 65.25% after 6,165 discharges on Wednesday. Mumbai though was back to reporting 1000-plus cases after a decline in daily cases in the last two days. It reported 1,125 cases and 42 deaths, taking the total tally to 1,19,240 and deaths to 6,591.
For the third day in a row, Tamil Nadu’s Covid-19 death toll crossed the 100 mark to a record 112. The victims included a four-day-old baby from Madurai. Among the deceased, five were brought dead to hospital and eight others had no comorbidities. The state's overall Covid-19 toll is now 4,461.
On the positive side the number of people getting discharged following treatment was above the 6,000-mark for the past two days. With 6,031 patients getting discharged on Wednesday, the state now has 54,184 active cases. Tamil Nadu reported 5,175 new Covid-19 cases, with Chennai continuing to report the highest cases (1,044) and deaths (25).
Bihar reported 2,701 fresh cases and 22 more Covid deaths in the last 24 hours on Wednesday. The number of deaths surpassed the previous single-day record. A 10-day-old male child was found infected and admitted at AIIMS-Patna. With 42,370 recoveries, there were 21,991 active cases in state, which surpassed its previous one-day record of samples testing as 51,924 people were tested in the last 24 hours.