Daily COVID-19 deaths in India falls below 100 for fourth time in February

India's tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 1,08,38,194, with 11,831 new infections, while the daily deaths fell below 100 for the fourth time this month, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday.

The death toll increased to 1,55,080 with 84 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,05,34,505 pushing the national COVID-19 recovery rate to 97.20 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.43 per cent. The total COVID-19 active cases remained below 2 lakh.

There are 1,48,609 active cases of coronavirus infections in the country which comprise 1.37 per cent of the total cases, 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  and had surpassed the one crore mark on December 19.

According to the ICMR, 20,19, 00,614 samples have been tested up to February 7 with 5, 32,236 samples being tested on Sunday.

The 84 new fatalities include 30 from Maharashtra and 19 from Kerala, 6 from Chhattisgarh, 5 from West Bengal, 4 from Uttarakhand, 3 from Karnataka, 2 each from Delhi, Goa, Haryana and Punjab.

A total of 1,55,080 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 51,310 from Maharashtra followed by 12,383 from Tamil Nadu, 12,236 from Karnataka,10,879 from Delhi, 10,207 from West Bengal, 8,687 from Uttar Pradesh and 7,159 from Andhra Pradesh.

The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.