COVID-19 update: 12, 408 new cases, recovery rate 97.16%

India's COVID-19 tally of cases went past 1.08 crore with 12,408 people testing positive for coronavirus infection in a day, while the recoveries surged to 1,04,96,308, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday. The total cases mounted to 1,08,02,591, while the death toll increased to 1,54,823 with 120 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,04,96,308 pushing the national COVID-19 recovery rate to 97.16 percent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.43 per cent. The COVID-19 active caseload remained below 2 lakh.

There are 1,51,460 active cases of coronavirus infections in the country which comprises 1.40 per cent of the total cases, 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 andsurpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

According to the ICMR, 19,99,31,795 samples have been tested up to February 4 with 7,15,776 samples being tested on Thursday. The 120 new fatalities include 46 from Maharashtra, 17 from Kerala, 7 each Delhi and Punjab.

A total of1,54,823 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 51,215 from Maharashtra followed by 12,375 from Tamil Nadu,12,227 from Karnataka,10,871 from Delhi, 10,199 from West Bengal, 8,680 from Uttar Pradesh and 7,157 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 itswebsite, adding that state-wisedistribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.

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