Coronavirus cases rise and cross the 9 lakh mark in India even as recovery rate improves

India's tryst with coronavirus continued on Tuesday as the nation crossed the nine lakh mark, after adding over 28,000 cases in a single day.

The total number of COVID-19 cases stands to 907,645, as per the 8 am briefing of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. This is the third consecutive day when India has recorded over 28,000 new cases. The country's death toll stands at 23,727.

Maharashtra has seen a spike of 6,497 cases in the past 24 hours, while Delhi has added 1,246 cases to its tally.Both are the two leading states in terms of the total number of cases.

High number of cases continues to be reported from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana while Delhi has started showing signs of improvement with marked reduction in fresh cases and fatalities.

Several states have now started exploring the option of brief lockdowns to break the cycle of virus spread. Karnataka has announced a lockdown in its Dharwad district from July 15 to 24.

Nineteen states have a recovery rate (RR) higher than the national average. Ladakh has the best RR with 84.45% followed by Delhi (79.98%), Uttarakhand (78.77%), Chhattisgarh (77.68%) and Himachal Pradesh (76.59%).

The Centre has said that India’s fatality rate has dropped to 2.64% due to the enhanced stress on clinical management of critical cases. Officials said that AIIMS Delhi continues to handhold the Dedicated COVID Hospitals (DCH) through the COVID-19 National Teleconsultation Centre.