India’s coronavirus death count tops China as new cases spike

• India's reported cases of 165,799 infections is the ninth highest globally, according to data from Johns Hopkins University
• The mortality rate from Covid-19 in India stood at 2.8% against world average of 6.2%

The death toll in India from coronavirus has topped the number of lives lost in China, where the pandemic started. The total number of coronavirus cases in India rose to 165,799 with death toll rising to 4,706, according to latest figures released by Ministry of Health. China so far confirmed 4,638 fatalities from COVID-19 and 84,106 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University.

India's reported cases of 165,799 infections is the ninth highest globally after 7,466 fresh COVID-19 cases were reported in past 24 hours, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The country has been registering new cases in excess of 6,000 daily since the past seven days.

Health ministry data released today showed there were 89,987 active coronavirus cases in India while 71,105 have recovered so far, indicating a recovery rate of 42.88%.

Among the states, Maharashtra alone has reported 1,982 coronavirus deaths, followed by Gujarat (960), Madhya Pradesh (321), Delhi (316) and West Bengal (295).

The tally of COVID-19 cases in Mumbai crossed the 35,000-mark on Thursday with the detection of 1,438 new infections.

The mortality rate from COVID-19 in India stood at 2.8% against world average of 6.2%, with Health Ministry on its website saying that more than 70% deaths cases are due to co-morbidities.

Cumulatively, 32,42,160 samples have been tested so far for COVID-19 in India till 9 am on Thursday.

India has gradually started relaxing the country’s nationwide lockdown to boost economic activity and ease the pain of what’s set to be the economy’s first annual contraction in 40 years.

The lockdown began on March 25 and is set to end on May 31. The government has been scaling up its testing to identify new cases.

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