India has outstripped the United Kingdom in terms of coronavirus cases to become the fourth worst-hit country with a caseload of 2,97,205, according to the Worldometer. India has registered over 9,500 cases for the seventh day in a row, while the one-day casualty figure crossed the 300-mark for the first time on Thursday.
India is now at the fourth spot, only behind the US (20,76,495 cases), Brazil (7,87,489) and Russia (5,02,436), as per Worldometer figures. The Union Health Ministry data, updated at 8am, said the country saw the highest single-day spike of 357 fatalities and 9,996 cases on Thursday, pushing the death-toll to 8,102 and the nationwide tally to 2,86,579.
The number of recoveries remained more than the active cases for the second consecutive day. The number of active cases stands at 1,37,448 till Thursday 8am, while 1,41,028 people have recovered.
Coronavirus tally the wrong figure to consider, says Centre
The Union health ministry has repeatedly held that it is wrong to just look at the total number of cases, as the population of countries also should be taken into account. About 14 countries with a cumulative population almost equal to that of India have reported 55.2 times more COVID-19 deaths, according to Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal.
In terms of the death toll, the US tops the global tally with more than 1.05 lakh fatalities, while India does not figure among the top ten countries on this parameter.
"Our COVID-19 fatality rate of 2.82 per cent and amongst the lowest in the world, compared to a global fatality rate of 6.13 per cent. We have been able to achieve this due to timely identification of cases and proper clinical management," Agarwal said. He also said that India's COVID-19 case fatality rate per lakh population is 0.41 per cent as against 4.9 per cent globally which is also amongst the lowest in the world.
Cases and casualty count
Out of the total 8,102 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 3,438 deaths followed by Gujarat (1,347), Delhi (984), Madhya Pradesh (427), West Bengal (432), Tamil Nadu (326), Uttar Pradesh (321), Rajasthan (259) and Telangana (156).
The death toll reached 78 in Andhra Pradesh, 69 in Karnataka and 55 in Punjab. Jammu and Kashmir has reported 51 fatalities due to the coronavirus disease, while 52 deaths have been reported from Haryana, 33 from Bihar, 18 from Kerala, 15 from Uttarakhand, nine from Odisha and eight from Jharkhand.
Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh have registered six COVID-19 fatalities each, Chandigarh have five while Assam has recorded four deaths so far. Meghalaya, Tripura and Ladakh have reported one COVID-19 fatality each, according to ministry data. More than 70 per cent of the deaths are due to comorbidities, the ministry's website stated.
The highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 94,041 followed by Tamil Nadu at 36,841, Delhi at 32,810, Gujarat at 21,521, Uttar Pradesh at 11,610, Rajasthan at 11,600 and Madhya Pradesh at 10,049, according to the health ministry's data.
The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 9,328 in West Bengal, 6,041 in Karnataka, 5,710 in Bihar and 5,579 in Haryana. It has risen to 5,269 in Andhra Pradesh,4,509 in Jammu and Kashmir, 4,111 in Telangana and 3,250 in Odisha. Assam has reported 3,092 novel coronavirus cases so far while Punjab has 2,805 cases. A total of 2,161 people have been infected by the virus in Kerala and 1,562 in Uttarakhand. Jharkhand has registered 1,489 cases, while 1,262 cases have been reported from Chhattisgarh, 895 from Tripura, 451 from Himachal Pradesh, 387 from Goa and 327 from Chandigarh.
Manipur has 311 COVID-19 cases, Nagaland has 128, Puducherry has 127,Ladakh has 115, Mizoram has 93, Arunachal Pradesh has 57, Meghalaya 44 while Andaman and Nicobar Islands has registered 34 infections so far. Dadar and Nagar Haveli has 26 cases, Sikkim has reported 13 cases till now while Daman and Diu has two cases.
-Inputs from PTI
