Coronavirus tally in India close to 3.7 million, death toll at 65,288

With69,921 people testing positive for coronavirus infection, India'sCOVID-19 tally mounted to36,91,166, while recoveries surged to 28,39,882 on Tuesday pushing the recovery rate to 76.94 per cent,according to the Union Health Ministry data.

The death toll climbed to 65,288 with819 new fatalities being reportedin a span of24 hours,the data updated at 8 am showed.

The COVID-19 case fatality rate has further declined to 1.77 per cent.

There are 7,85,996 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 21.29 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7 and went past 30 lakh on August 23.

According to theICMR, a cumulative total of 4,33,24,834 samples have been tested up to August 31 with 10,16,920 samples being tested on Monday.

Of the 819 fresh deaths, 184 are from Maharashtra, 113 from Karnataka, 91 from Tamil Nadu, 85 from Andhra Pradesh,63 from Uttar Pradesh, 52 from West Bengal, 49 from Punjab, 20 from Madhya Pradesh, 18 from Delhi, 14 from Gujarat, 13 from Rajasthan ,12 from Uttarakhand, 10 each from Assam, Odisha and Tripura.

Nine fatalities each have been reported from Goa, Telangana and Jammu and Kashmir, eight from Chhattisgarh, seven each from Haryana, Jharkhand, Kerala and Puducherry,four each from Bihar and Chandigarh, three from Himachal Pradesh whileAndaman and Nicobar Islands has registered one fatality.

Of the total 65,228 deaths, Maharashtra has reported the maximum at 24,583 followed by 7,322 in Tamil Nadu, 5,702 in Karnataka, 4,444 in Delhi,3,969 in Andhra Pradesh, 3,486 in Uttar Pradesh, 3,228 in West Bengal, 3,020 in Gujarat,and 1,453 in Punjab.

So far, 1,394 people have died of COVID-19 in Madhya Pradesh, 1,056 in Rajasthan, 836 in Telangana, 703 in Jammu and Kashmir, 689 in Haryana, 582 in Bihar, 492 in Odisha, 417 in Jharkhand, 306 in Assam, 294 in Kerala, 277 in Chhattisgarh and 269 in Uttarakhand.

Puducherry has registered 228 fatalities, Goa 192, Tripura 113, Chandigarh 56, Andaman and Nicobar Islands 46, Himachal Pradesh 38, Ladakh 34, Manipur 28, Meghalaya 10, Nagaland nine, Arunachal Pradesh seven, Sikkim three and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu two.

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 itswebsite, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.