Spike in daily Covid-19 count continues, India inches closer to 3 lakh, fresh fatalities at 2,023

New Delhi, Apr 21: The single day rise in new coronavirus infections inched closer to 3 lakh pushing India''s total tally of COVID-19 cases to 1,56,16,130, while the death toll increased to 1,82,553 with a record 2,023 daily fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

A total of 2,95,041 fresh infections were registered in a span of 24 hours, while the active cases crossed the 21-lakh mark, the data updated at 8 am showed.

Registering a steady increase for the 42nd in a row, the active cases have increased to 21,57,538, comprising 13.82 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has dropped to 85.01 per cent.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,32,76,039, while the case fatality rate has further dropped to 1.17 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.India crossed the grim milestone of 1.50 crore on April 19.

According to the ICMR, 27,10,53,392 samples have been tested up to April 20 with 16,39,357 samples being tested on Tuesday.