India's Covid deaths cross 50,000; highest spike of 67k+ cases on Saturday

NEW DELHI: The Covid-19 pandemic crossed another grim milestone in India when the death toll from the virus went past 50,000 on Saturday. More than a fourth of these fatalities — 27% of the total — have been reported in the first 15 days of August alone.
Over 13,500 deaths have been reported from across the country so far this month. By contrast, the whole of July saw a total of 19,122 fatalities.
Saturday also saw the highest single-day rise in cases, with 67,103 fresh infections being reported, as per data collated from state governments. The previous highest daily count was also recorded this week — 66,037 cases on Thursday. India’s total caseload has now risen to 25,90,572.

Saturday again saw more than 55,000 Covid-19 patients being declared cured, taking the total recoveries to over 18.5 lakh. Meanwhile, the number of active cases also increased by more than 10,000, the highest daily rise in seven days. India’s pool of active cases now stands at over 6.8 lakh.
While Maharashtra accounted for the highest 12,614 fresh cases on Saturday, the state’s third highest single-day spike, Karnataka had the second highest cases among all states. Karnataka’s recorded as many as 8,818 fresh infections, the first time the count has crossed 8,000 in the state.
Other states that reported their highest daily spike in infections were Bengal (3,074 new cases), Odisha (2,496), Rajasthan (1,337), Kerala (1,608), Jharkhand (1,242) and Madhya Pradesh (1,019). Meanwhile, Bihar became the eighth state in the country to register a total caseload of over 1 lakh on Saturday.
The day’s death toll stood at 973, staying over 900 for the fourth day running. Maharashtra reported 322 fatalities, followed by Tamil Nadu (127, state’s highest so far), Karnataka (114), Andhra Pradesh (87), UP and Bengal (both 58). For the first time, Tamil Nadu reported “incidental Covid” — people with chronic ailments, organ failure or end stage diseases diagnosed with viral infection.