India recorded 72,049 fresh infections of coronavirus and 986 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the country’s COVID tally past the 67-lakh mark, shows the Health Ministry data on October 7.

According to the government figures, India’s total COVID cases now stand at 67,57,131, including 9,07,883 active cases, 57,44,693 recoveries and 1,04,555 deaths.A total of 82,203 people recovered from the deadly virus in the last 24 hours, bringing the overall active cases to around 13 per cent of the total caseload.The highest number of cases in the last 24 hours was reported from five states. Maharashtra accounted for 17 per cent of all cases (12,258), followed by Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.Maharashtra also reported the most deaths in the 24-hour period, followed by Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. Together these states account for 66.5 per cent of all COVID deaths in the country.India’s recovery rate increased to 85 per cent, the death rate stood at 1.5 per cent and the daily positivity rate remained 5.6 per cent as almost 12 lakh tests were conducted in the last 24 hours.More than 8.2 crore tests have been conducted in India till now, the Health Ministry said.With the government conducting more tests per day as per its ‘test, track and treat’ policy, the country has been recording the highest daily COVID cases in the world since August. In India, at least 23 lakh fresh COVID cases or 40 per cent of the country’s current COVID-19 tally in September alone.September also saw one-third of the COVID-related deaths reported since the pandemic began. India is in the third spot in terms of deaths globally after the US and Brazil, according to Johns Hopkins University.

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