New Delhi: India on Sunday recorded 66,732, pushing the total tally to 71,20,539. This is first time, the country reported less than 70,000 in a month.

India has now reported more than seven million coronavirus cases as it gets a step closer to overtaking the United States as the world’s most-infected country.

As many as 816 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the casualties to 1,09,150.

The silver lining is the number of recoveries, With increasing recoveries, India has sustained its leading global position with the maximum recovered cases.

According to the health bulletin, India recorded 71,559 recovered cases in the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 61,49,535. With this, the recovery rate reaches to 86.36 percent.

India’s 5 worst-affected states:

Maharashtra: 15,28,226
Andhra Pradesh: 7,55,727
Karnataka: 7,10,309
Tamil Nadu: 6,56,385
Uttar Pradesh: 4,36,979

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan Sunday hinted that India may see an increase in the Covid-19 transmission-rate during winter. The Minister’s comments came in the backdrop of several reports which indicated that coronavirus cases will surge in the colder weather since respiratory illnesses tend to thrive during cooler weather conditions.

“Respiratory viruses are known to thrive better in cold weather and low humidity conditions. There is another fact which needs to be kept in mind. There is overcrowding in residential dwellings of many people in the winter season. This also increases the transmission of respiratory viruses”, he added.

Meanwhile, 9,94,851 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours. Total 8,78,72,093 samples tested in the country up to 11th October.