India reports 2,57,299 new COVID19 cases, 4,194 deaths

New Delhi, May 22: India recorded new cases of coronavirus infection at over 2.57 lakh, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 2,62,89,290 according to the Union Health Ministry data.

A total of 2,57,299 new infections were registered in a day, while the death count increased to 2,95,525 with 4,194 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The active cases further reduced to 29,23,400 comprising 11.12 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate improved to 87.76 per cent.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease in the country surged to 2,30,70,365, while the case fatality rate stood at 1.12 per cent, the data stated.

India''s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20 lakh-mark on August 7 last, 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 last year.

India crossed the grim milestone of 2 crore on May 4 this year.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 32,64,84,155 samples have been tested for COVID-19 up to May 21 with 20,66,285 samples tested on Friday.

The 4,194 new fatalities include 1,263 from Maharashtra, 467 from Tamil Nadu, 353 from Karnataka, 252 from Delhi, 172 each from Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, 159 from West Bengal, 142 from Kerala, 129 from Rajasthan, 116 from Uttarakhand, 112 from Haryana, 104 from Andhra Pradesh and 96 from Chhattisgarh.

A total of 2,95,525 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 86,618 from Maharashtra, 24,207 from Karnataka, 22,831 from Delhi, 19,598 from Tamil Nadu, 18,760 from Uttar Pradesh, 14,054 from West Bengal, 12,888 from Punjab and 12,391 from Chhattisgarh, the ministry said.