India reports 20,557 cases of COVID-19 infection, 2,603 more deaths as Punjab adds 2,563 old deaths to its tally

New Delhi, July 20, 2022

India on Wednesday reported 20,557 new cases of COVID-19 infection in the last 24 hours and added 2,603 more deaths to its tally so far after Punjab revised its death toll upwards by 2,563 following reconciliation of data in keeping with directions of the Supreme Court and guidelines from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Not counting the backlog numbers of deaths in Punjab, the number of COVID-19-related deaths in the country in the last 24 hours was 40.

India on Tuesday had recorded 15,528 new cases of COVID-19 infection and 25 deaths.

The number of new cases in a single day had fallen below the 20,000-mark on Monday after remaining above that level for four consecutive days. It has today again risen above that mark.

Of the 20,557 fresh cases of infection posted today, Maharashtra accounted for 2,279, followed by 2,243 cases in West Bengal, 1,941 in Puducherry, 1,857 in Kerala, 1,151 in Karnataka, 945 in Odisha, 787 in Gujarat, 755 in Assam, 658 in Telangana, 616 in Himachal Pradesh, 595 in Chhattisgarh, 585 in Delhi, 480 in Haryana, and 465 in Andhra Pradesh.

Of the 40 deaths reported today, Kerala accounted for 11, followed by six each in Maharashtra and West Bengal, four in Punjab, three each in Sikkim and Assam, two in Delhi, and one each in Haryana, Jharkhand, Manipur, Odisha and Rajasthan.

In addition, Punjab added 2,563 old deaths to its COVID-19 tally, in compliance with the Supreme Court directions and revised ICMR guidelines on which deaths have to be categorised as COVID-19 fatalities.

With the latest data released by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare this morning, the death toll in the country from COVID-19 so far has gone up to 528,388, including the backlog deaths in Punjab.

The total number of cases of infection till now, since the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in India in late January 2020, rose to 43,803,619 today.

The number of those who have recovered from COVID-19 in the country rose to 43,132,140 today, up 18,517 from yesterday. The recovery rate stood at 98.47%.

However, the number of active cases maintained a downtrend for the second consecutive day today, going down by 563 to 143,091 after increasing for 55 consecutive days.

Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 200.61 crore today, including 26.04 lakh doses given in the last 24 hours.

The Daily Positivity Rate stood at 4.13% and the Weekly Positivity Rate at 4.64% today.

A total of 87.06 crore COVID-19 tests have been conducted so far in the country, including 4.98 lakh tests done in the last 24 hours.

NNN