Coronavirus: Over 61 lakh COVID-19 cases in India with 70,589 new cases; 96,318 total deaths

Coronavirus: For the first time in 28 days deaths have fallen below 1,000 for the 24-hour period.

New Delhi: India's COVID-19 tally has crossed the 61-lakh mark with 70,589 new coronavirus cases and 776 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, according to Health Ministry data released this morning. For the first time in 28 days, Covid deaths over the one-day period have fallen below 1,000, government data shows. A total of 96,318 people have lost their lives to the disease till now. The country now has a total of 61.45 lakh coronavirus cases, including 96,318 deaths, 51 lakh recoveries and 9.47 lakh active cases.

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With 84,877 people having fought off the COVID-19 disease in the last 24 hours, India has witnessed close to 100 per cent increase in recoveries in the past month, government data shows.
According to the Health Ministry, more than 82 per cent of total cases have recovered and been discharged. Active cases now constitute less than 20 per cent of total cases.
The country's fatality rate was 1.5 per cent, overall recovery rate 83 per cent, and the daily positivity rate 6.1 per cent for the 24-hour period.
The Health Ministry conducted 11,42,811 tests in this period, over the 7 lakh tests conducted a day earlier. Till now, the country has conducted more than 7.3 crore tests.
Kerala and the four worst-hit states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh reported the highest one-day increases of any state in the past 24 hours, with around 49 per cent of all new cases in the country.
78 per cent of the total recovered cases are recorded in 10 states and Union territories. India's five worst-hit states - Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh - also top the list of states with highest recoveries.
Maharashtra, which recorded 180 deaths in the last 24 hours against 380 recorded a day earlier, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal together recorded 54 per cent of all deaths, against 65 per cent a day earlier.
The centre is expected to announce guidelines for Unlock 5 in the next couple of days as the current phase - Unlock 4 - is due to end on Wednesday. Unlock 5 will likely come into effect Thursday - October 1 - and is expected to stay in place till October 30.
Chennai's Koyambedu wholesale vegetable market, which was labelled a coronavirus hotspot in May, has reopened but at least 30 per cent of those who gathered to work at approximately a quarter of the 2,000 reopened shops appeared to violate Covid norms of wearing a face mask and failing to practice social distancing.
India remains the second worst-affected country by the coronavirus pandemic, next only to the United States which has more than 71.48 lakh cases with 20 lakh deaths. Global coronavirus infections have soared past 3.35 crore. COVID-19 has claimed the lives of more than 10 lakh people across the world.