COVID-19: New cases fall below 10,000 for fourth time in February

NEW DELHI: The daily new infections fell below 10,000 for the fourth time this month taking India's tally of COVID-19 cases to 1,09,25,710, while fresh fatalities remained below 100 for the tenth time this month, according to Union health ministry data updated on Tuesday.

A total of 9,121 new cases were reported in a day, while the death toll increased to 1,55,813 with 81 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,06,33, 025 which translates to a national COVID-19 recovery rate of 97.32 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.43 per cent.

The COVID-19 active caseload remained below 1.5 lakh.

There are 1,36,872 active coronavirus infections in the country which comprise 1.25 per cent of the total caseload, 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 one-crore mark on December 19.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, 20,73,32,298 samples were tested till February 15 with 6,15,664 samples being tested on Monday.

The 81 new fatalities include 23 from Maharashtra, 13 from Kerala and 10 from Punjab.

A total of 1,55,813 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 51,552 from Maharashtra followed by 12,425 from Tamil Nadu, 12,267 from Karnataka, 10,893 from Delhi, 10,233 from West Bengal, 8,704 from Uttar Pradesh and 7,163 from Andhra Pradesh.

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.