India records 6,148 Covid deaths in 24 hours after Bihar revises tally

The death toll due to Covid-19 in India saw a massive jump on Thursday after the Bihar health department revised the toll in the state to more than 9,000.

According to the Union health ministry data on Thursday, India saw 6,148 deaths, the highest single-day toll so far, which took the overall tally to 3,59,676.

The daily infections in India remained below one lakh for the third straight day. At least 92,596 fresh Covid-19 cases were reported in 24 hours, which took the infection tally 2,91,83,121, while the number of active cases dropped to 11,67,952. Coronavirus Live Updates on June 10

The top five states which registered maximum cases are Tamil Nadu with 17,321 cases, followed by Kerala with 16,204 cases, Maharashtra with 10,989 cases, Karnataka with 10,959 cases, and Andhra Pradesh with 8,766 cases.

As per the updated data, 68.3 per cent of the new cases on Thursday have been reported from these five states, with Tamil Nadu alone responsible for 18.42 per cent of the new cases.

Recoveries, meanwhile, continue to outnumber daily new cases. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 2,76,55,493.

India’s recovery rate fell to 94.77 per cent after 6,148 deaths were reported in the country in the last 24 hours. Maximum casualties were reported in Bihar (3,971), followed by Maharashtra with 661 deaths.

Why the massive jump in Covid death toll?

India recorded the highest single-day toll on Thursday after figures in Bihar were revised drastically upwards by the state health department, which put the total number of fatalities caused by the pandemic at 9,429.

According to the department, which had earlier stated the number of deaths to be under 5,500, as many as 3,951 deaths were added to the toll after verification.

However, it was not specified as to when these additional deaths took place, though a breakup was provided for all 38 districts.

Going by the fresh figures, the number of lives lost in the second wave is close to 8,000 and a nearly six times increase in the death toll since April.

Patna district bore the brunt of the outbreak, accounting for a total of 2,303 deaths. Muzaffarpur was a distant second with 609 fatalities.

Patna also accounted for the highest number of 1,070 "additional deaths reported after verification", followed by Begusarai (316), Muzaffarpur (314), East Champaran (391), and Chief Minister Nitish Kumars native Nalanda (222).

Altogether 7,15,179 people have been infected in the state so far of whom more than five lakhs caught the contagion in the last couple of months.

The health department has also revised the number of recovered persons from 7,01,234 on the previous day to 6,98,397.

The Covid trajectory in India

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 had crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4.

The number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 24 crore, the Union Health Ministry said.

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