COVID-19: India reports 3.43 lakh fresh cases, fatality rate rises in May

India recorded 343,288 fresh COVID-19 infections on Friday, taking the caseload tally to 24,046,120. Deaths from the virus surged by 3,999 to hit 262,350 in total. Maximum casualties were reported in Maharashtra (850), followed by Karnataka with 344 daily deaths. Deaths remained high in Delhi (308) and UP at 281.

While the seven-day average of daily cases has fallen steadily from a peak of 3.91 lakh on Saturday (May 8) to 3.64 lakh on Thursday, May 12, the average daily fatalities have risen. The seven-day average of daily deaths crossed the 4,000 mark on Tuesday and stood at 4,039 on Thursday.

Maharashtra reported 42,582 new COVID-19 cases and 850 deaths, followed by Kerala (39,955), Karnataka (35,297), Tamil Nadu (30,621), Andhra Pradesh (22,399), West Bengal (20,839), Uttar Pradesh (17,775) and Delhi (10,489) in the past 24 hours.

The six most affected states by total cases are Maharashtra (5,269,292), Karnataka (2,088,488), Kerala (2,050,889), Uttar Pradesh (1,580,980), Tamil Nadu (1,499,485), Andhra Pradesh (1,366,785), and Delhi (1,372,475).

49.79% of the new COVID-19 cases are reported from these five states, with Maharashtra alone responsible for 12.41% of the new cases.

As a result of falling cases and relatively high deaths, the case fatality rate (CFR) in the past week has risen to 1.1%, up from 0.7% in the month of April.