India's Covid-19 cases top 7 million; recoveries above 6 million

The union health ministry data released in the morning showed 918 deaths linked to the virus, in the past 24 hours. 

For the third day in a row the active cases of Covid-19 remained below 9 lakh, suggesting a stabilisation in the number of Covid-affected people.. 

With over 7 million cases and daily addition of nearly 80,000 cases, India looks set to overtake  the United States as the most Covid-affected country in the world. 

Most of the new coronavirus cases were reported from Maharashtra and four southern states - Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu --, as per official data.

"The five top states with maximum caseload (61 per cent active cases) are also contributing more than half (54.3 percent) of the total recoveries," the health ministry stated in a tweet this morning.

Kerala added 11,755 cases, the most, in the last 24 hours, as per the health ministry. The southern state -- which, in May, had announced that it had flattened the Covid-19 curve -- has been reporting around 10,000 cases since October. 

Maharashtra, the worst-affected state, reported 11,416 new cases, taking its tally to 15,17,434. Over 40,000 people have died in the state due to the infection so far.

Confirmed cases of coronavirus have crossed the 7.50 lakh mark in Andhra Pradesh as 5,653 infections were added on Saturday. 

Karnataka has breached the 7 lakh mark with 10,517 fresh cases reported on Saturday.

Delhi reported 2,866 new cases and 48 fatalities due to coronavirus on Saturday. 

The death rate -- based on the last 10 days - stands at 1.41 per cent whereas the cumulative fatality rate stands at 1.87 per cent. The National Centre for Disease Control has warned that the national capital may witness 15,000 daily cases during winter.

In Bengal, veteran actor Soumitra Chatterjee, who is currently in intensive care from complications due to Covid-19, underwent plasma therapy at a private hospital in Kolkata. Chatterjee, one of Bengal's top actors, tested positive on Monday.

The virus initially hit major metropolises such as Mumbai and New Delhi, but has since spread to remote parts of the country including Andaman and Nicobar islands.

While the daily addition of coronavirus cases has fallen from a peak of almost 100,000 in mid-September to around 60,000-70,000, the tally continues to rise. The union health ministry is pinning hope on the continuously rising recovery rate and progressively falling active cases to prove the success of its Covid-19 containment strategy.