More than 2.5 lakh Covid cases in India, 1761 deaths in last 24 hours, states without inpatient treatment

NEW DELHI: India's total tally of COVID-19 cases climbed to 1,53,21,089 with 2,59,170 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, while active cases surpassed the 20-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

The death toll increased to 1,80,530 with a record 1,761 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

Registering a steady increase for the 41st day in a row, the active cases increased to 20,31,977, comprising 13.26 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has dropped to 85.56 per cent.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,31,08,582, while the case fatality rate has further dropped to 1.18 per cent, 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, 26,94,14,035 samples have been tested up to April 19 with 15,19,486 samples being tested on Monday.

With the increase in the number of patients, hospitals in many states are overcrowded. Vaccines are not available in many places. The government has said that 80 per cent of the beds reserved for Covid patients in Bengaluru hospitals have been admitted. This is when the number of Covid victims per day exceeds 12,000. The situation is similar in New Delhi.