India records 15,968 new Covid-19 cases

New Delhi: India's COVID-19 caseload rose to 1,04,95,147 with 15,968 infections being reported in a day, while the recoveries surged to 1,01,29,111 pushing the national recovery rate to 96.51 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

The death toll increased to 1,51,529 with 202 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,01,29,111 pushing the national COVID-19 recovery rate to 96.51 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.44 per cent.

The COVID-19 active caseload remained below 3 lakh.

There are 2,14,507 active cases of coronavirus infections in the country which comprises 2.04 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 ICMR, 18,34,89,114 samples have been tested up to January 12 with 8,36,227 samples being tested on Tuesday.

The 202 new fatalities include 50 from Maharashtra, 25 from Kerala, 18 from West Bengal,and 16 from Delhi.

A total of 151529 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 50,151 from Maharashtra followed by 12,236 from Tamil Nadu, 12,149 from Karnataka, 10,707 from Delhi, 9,975 from West Bengal, 8,514 from Uttar Pradesh, 7,133 from Andhra Pradesh and 5,456 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.