India 3rd to record 5 lakh Covid deaths

New Delhi, February 4

India on Friday crossed the five-lakh Covid death mark, becoming only the third country in the world after the US and Brazil to cross the grim milestone.

The toll climbed to 5,00,055 with 1,072 deaths in the past 24 hours.

The last one lakh deaths were added in 217 days after a record 4 lakh mortality mark on July 1, 2021. Most deaths happened in the lethal second wave with new cases peaking at 4,14,188 on May 7, 2021. Total active cases today were 3.42 per cent of the cumulative infections.

Only yesterday, the ministry gave data showing 268 districts with less than 5 per cent positivity rate, indicating that the spread was slowing.

The ministry claimed a contraction in the pandemic on the back of plummeting cases over 14 days.

As against nearly 1.72 lakh new cases seen yesterday, the country saw 1.49 lakh today.

The government has said high vaccination coverage in the third wave has prevented deaths.

The Health Ministry’s comparison of the second and third surge shows that on April 30, 2021, there were 3,86,452 new cases, 3,059 deaths and 31,70, 228 active cases with only 2 per cent of the adults fully vaccinated.

1,49,394 fresh cases
TOTAL DEATHS: 5,00,055
ACTIVE CASES: 14,35,569
On January 20, 2022 — the peak of the third wave so far — there were 3,17,532 new cases, 380 deaths, and the proportion of fully vaccinated was 72 per cent.