India has reported 853 new COVID-19 deaths during the last 24 hours, health ministry data showed, taking its total toll beyond 400,000.
Maharashtra accounts for 1.25 lakh of these, while Karnataka has reported over 35,000. Tamil Nadu has seen more than 32,000 deaths till now.
But the true death toll is believed to be far higher. A good number of local media outlets have reported discrepancies between official state tallies of the dead and actual numbers of bodies in crematoriums and burial grounds.
Meanwhile, the Union government on Friday rushed COVID-19 teams to six states — Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Manipur — that are reporting a high number of coronavirus infections. These teams are designated for the control and containment of the virus.
India recorded 46,617 new coronavirus infections in the 24 hours ending 8 am Friday, taking the country’s total to over 3.04 crore. Out of these, active cases declined to over 5.09 lakh while over 2.95 crore people have recovered after testing positive.
Kerala continues to be the only state reporting more than 10,000 cases a day.
