India reports 54,044 fresh coronavirus cases

India reported a spike of 54,044 new coronavirus cases long with 717 new deaths, according to the Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday morning. With this, the total number of coronavirus cases in India now stands at 76,51,108 and the death toll has reached 1,15,914.

India also witnessed a dip of 8448 in its active cases in the last 24 hours. As of Wednesday morning, there are 7,40,090 active cases of coronavirus in India.

For the fifth consecutive day, the active cases of coronavirus remained below 8 lakh in India.

India has a recovery rate of 88.8 percent. Six states – Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal- account for 64 percent of the country’s total active cases.

According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 9,72,00,379 samples have been tested up to October 20 with 10,83,608 samples being tested on Tuesday (October 20).

However, a top ICMR official warned that a person may get reinfected with Covid-19 if the antibodies against the infection diminish in the body in five months’ time after recovery.

Officials at the World Health Organisation reiterated the importance of adhering to quarantine rules for those who test positive and those who have come in contact with a positive case, as Europe faces a surge in numbers.

Globally, the infections have topped 40.2 million, with over 1.1 million deaths. Soaring cases in US battleground states pose a challenge for President Donald Trump two weeks before the election.