For the record, India now has the dubious distinction of having crossed the threshold of one lakh Covid-19 deaths.
As on Friday morning, when the Union Health Ministry put out the figures, the death toll stood at 99,773; during the day the toll was expected to cross the 1-lakh mark as states updated their tally with fresh daily numbers.
Maharashtra, the worst-hit state due to coronavirus, alone recorded 15,591 fresh cases of Covid-19 along with 424 new virus-related deaths on Friday. The fresh cases took the state’s caseload to 14,16,513.
The death toll has crossed the 1-lakh mark nearly seven months after the country had confirmed its first fatality.
The silver lining is that India still continues to maintain its global position of having the maximum number of recovered patients. With 78,877 people having recouped in 24 hours, India's total recoveries surged to 53,52,078 pushing the recovery rate to 83.70 per cent, according to health ministry data updated at 8 am.
The fatality rate was recorded at 1.56 per cent. India's overall Covid-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23 and 40 lakh on September 5. It went past the 50 lakh-mark on September 16 and crossed 60 lakh on September 28.
Fourteen states and union territories, including Meghalaya, Chhattisgarh, Puducherry, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa and Sikkim, had less than 5,000 active cases of Covid-19.
