The ministry also said about 14 most affected countries with a cumulative population almost equal to that of India have reported 55.2 times more COVID-19 deaths and 22.5 times more cases.
The Tamil Nadu government has been transparent in reporting COVID-19 deaths and no one can hide the information, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said on Thursday, rejecting claims of under-reporting of fatalities. He also asserted there was no community transmission of coronavirus in the state, which has reported 1,500 plus fresh cases for four successive days till Wednesday with the tally crossing the 36,000 mark.
An 85-year-old woman, who tested positive for coronavirus earlier, succumbed to the infection on Monday.
In India, 11.9 lakh excess deaths occurred in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, 17 per cent higher compared to 2019, an international study has found.
The results are based on epidemiological data collected up to third week in June 2020 and the researchers say a comprehensive evaluation will need to follow after the pandemic has subsided.
Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday 8 am showed a single-day spike of 81,484 infections, taking the country's COVID-19 tally of cases to 63,94,068, while the death toll climbed to 99,773, with the virus claiming 1,095 lives in a span of 24 hours. However, by night, a PTI tally showed India's COVID-19 caseload at 64,64,012, death toll at 1,00,768 and recoveries at 54,15,197.
The country is still in the ascending limb of the epidemic, said Prof D Prabhakaran.
'There is no need for panic as there is widespread protective immune memory in the population from vaccination as well as prior infections.'
Official data reveals that Delhi recorded 141 dowry death cases in 2021, the highest in five years, with a subsequent gradual decline. The COVID-19 pandemic is cited as a factor exacerbating domestic tensions. Cases of cruelty by husband or relatives under Section 498A also show significant numbers, alongside efforts to strengthen prosecution and increase awareness.
The country recorded 311 new deaths in the 24-hour period till Sunday morning while the recovery rate rose to above 50 per cent
It is necessary to have a dramatic increase in the number of rapid tests for COVID-19 conducted on a large number of people and that should become the basis for estimating the morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19, not relying only on hospital reports, says Professor K Srinivasan.
'If standard protocols are meticulously followed and hospital facilities remain on high alert, direct COVID-19 deaths should be kept to less than 7,500-8,000 in the present pandemic'
So far a total of 24,25,742 samples have been tested, the health ministry said.
Suggesting that a relatively young Indian population may be one of the reasons for the low mortality rate due to the pandemic, experts have attributed the high number of fatalities in countries like Italy and Spain to their elderly population which are more susceptible to developing complications after contracting the infection.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday asked states to make full use of the expanded COVID-19 testing capacity and saving lives a top priority as India recorded the highest ever spike of 2,003 coronavirus deaths after Maharashtra and Delhi added earlier fatalities not attributed to the disease.
India also surpassed China's death toll with as many as 4,706 deaths, compared to 4,638, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 20,177 while 5,913 people (21.96 percent) were cured and discharged, and one patient has migrated, the ministry said. The total number of cases include 111 foreign nationals. Of the 47 deaths reported since Saturday evening, 22 are from Maharashtra, eight in Rajasthan, seven from Madhya Pradesh, six Gujarat and one each from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Tamil Nadu.
'65 per cent were males.' 'Age group of deaths: More were seen from age 51 to 70.' 'Saw some deaths from age 21 to the 40s.' 'About 76 to 77 per cent of patient deaths had some kind of a comorbidity.' 'The main comorbidities were the presence of diabetes, hypertension, some kind of heart diseases.'
A court in Madurai, India, has sentenced nine police officers to death for the custodial deaths of a father and son in Sathankulam, Tamil Nadu, in 2020. The victims, P Jayaraj and J Bennix, were killed after being arrested for violating COVID-19 lockdown rules.
Awarapan 2, featuring Emraan Hashmi, is set to release 19 years after its original, joining a growing trend of long-delayed Bollywood sequels attempting to capitalise on nostalgia and past successes like Gadar 2 and Border 2, but not all such reboots guarantee box office triumph.
This is the third day on the trot that the capital has recorded over 400 fatalities due to the deadly virus.
China reported 17,166 asymptomatic cases with a majority of them in Shanghai, China's business hub of 26 million.
The 76-year-old, who recently returned from Saudi Arabia, had died on Tuesday night.
Of the 937 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 369 fatalities, followed by Gujarat at 162, Madhya Pradesh at 113, Delhi at 54, Rajasthan at 46 and Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh at 31 each.
"The unsound analysis of the said article is based on the extrapolation of data without any epidemiological evidence," the ministry said, adding the studies used by the magazine to estimate the mortality are not validated tools for determining the death rate of any country or region.
As of March 25, life insurers have paid Rs 1,986 crore towards 25,500 Covid death claims
In the study titled 'The Effects of Large Group Meetings on the Spread of COVID-19: The Case of Trump Rallies', researchers concluded 18 rallies by Trump held between June 20 and September 22 "ultimately resulted in more than 30,000 incremental confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 'likely led to more than 700 deaths', which may not necessarily have been among attendees.
'We ourselves hadn't heard it initially. Many people called us. The entire village was overjoyed.'
'This is unfair slander to Kangana.'
There has been a spike of 1,813 cases since Tuesday evening. The number of active COVID-19 cases stand at 22,982, while 7,796 people have recovered, and one patient has migrated, the health ministry said.
"A recent Columbia University study that supports that death is prevented by earlier lockdowns bears the fact that Narendra Modi's government has done an excellent job in clamping lockdown," Tennessee-based Dr Indranill Basu Ray said in a statement.
A total of 77 deaths were reported since Thursday evening of which 27 fatalities were reported from Maharashtra, 17 from Gujarat, 11 from West Bengal, seven each from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, three from Delhi, two from Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and one from Karnataka.
The total coronavirus cases mounted to 64,73,544 with 79,476 new infections being reported in a day, while the death toll climbed to 1,00,842 with the virus claiming 1,069 lives in a span of 24 hours, data updated at 8 am showed.
England all-rounder Ben Stokes has announced his retirement from international cricket, ending a career defined by match-winning brilliance, iconic Ashes moments, World Cup glory, and a transformative impact on English cricket across all formats.
In a kind of relief, record 5,071 patients were discharged in a single day, leading to the overall count surpassing the number of active cases in the state for the first time.
Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said as part of exploring every avenue to slow the spread of the pandemic in the UK, tests are also being carried out on several drugs, including anti-malaria drugs, to establish their usefulness in curing COVID-19.
139 COVID-19 patients died during the day, taking the death toll to 2,849.
Mukesh Ambani, Asia's second richest man, has not drawn a salary from Reliance Industries for the sixth consecutive year, with dividends from his extensive shareholdings serving as his primary source of income.
The wave of deaths, one-third of which has come from the world's financial capital of New York and neighbouring New Jersey and Connecticut, has had a devastating impact on American economy which has now gone into recession with an unprecedented over 35 million losing their jobs in the last three months.
The city has reported around 2,100 deaths due to the deadly virus in the last 11 days.
