COVID-19: Record 4,529 fatalities in single day in country
New Delhi: India saw a record 4,529 fatalities due to coronavirus in a single day pushing the COVID-19 death toll to 2,83,248, while 2.67 lakh fresh cases were recorded, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.
With a total of 2,67,334 fresh infections, India's total tally of cases climbed to 2,54,96,330.
The active cases dipped to 32,26,719 comprising 12.66 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 86.23 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 2,19,86,363 while the case fatality rate has increased to 1.11 per cent, the data stated.
India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.India crossed the grim milestone of 2 crore on May 4.
According to the ICMR, 32,03,01,177 samples have been tested up to May 18 with 20,08,296 samples being tested on Tuesday.
The 4,529 new fatalities include 1,291 from Maharashtra, 525 from Karnataka, 364 from Tamil Nadu, 265 from Delhi, 255 from Uttar Pradesh, 231 from Punjab, 153 from Chhattisgarh, 146 from Rajasthan, 145 from West Bengal, 124 from Haryana and 111 from Bihar.
A total of 2, 83,248 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 83,777 from Maharashtra, 22,838 from Karnataka, 22,111 from Delhi, 18,369 from Tamil Nadu, 18,072 from Uttar Pradesh, 13,576 from West Bengal, 12,317 from Punjab and 12,036 from Chhattisgarh.
The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.
"Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.
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FIR filed after e-commerce platform linked tech firm alleges SMS spoofing fraud
Bengaluru (PTI): An FIR has been registered against unknown people for allegedly sending fraudulent messages in the name of an e-commerce platform with promises of cash rewards, further disrupting its operations, police said on Wednesday.
The offence is said to have taken place between April 23 and April 27, they said.
A representative of city-based technology company Hiveloop Technology Pvt Ltd (HTPL), part of the Udaan group (eB2B platform), has lodged a complaint alleging a large-scale SMS spoofing fraud following which a detailed investigation has been initiated into the matter, a senior police officer said.
According to the FIR, HTPL is a registered entity on the TRAI-mandated DLT platform, which permits only pre-approved SMS templates and whitelisted URLs to be sent through authorised sender IDs.
The issue came to light on April 23, when HTPL received alerts from buyers about fraudulent SMS messages appearing to originate from the company's sender ID "UDAANN". The messages reportedly contained Bitly links and falsely claimed a credit of Rs 10,001, urging recipients to withdraw money, it said.
On April 27, at around 12:49 pm, the DLT platform blacklisted HTPL's SMS templates, citing their alleged use in sending fraudulent messages. Within minutes, the company's sender ID was also blacklisted. Airtel's DLT system subsequently confirmed the action and shared details of the fraudulent messages that were circulated in HTPL's name without its knowledge or consent, the FIR stated.
Following this, the company's messaging operations were affected, and even legitimate communications such as one-time passwords to buyers began failing. Later, the DLT operator suspended HTPL's entire account following complaints raised on TRAI's Chakshu platform, bringing all SMS services of the company to a halt, it further stated.
HTPL has stated that neither it nor its authorised vendors sent the fraudulent messages. The links embedded in the messages reportedly redirected users to an online betting website, the FIR stated.
The company has claimed that the incident has resulted in a complete breakdown of SMS-based services, including buyer authentication, order updates and promotional communication, leading to significant financial losses.
At least 13 victims have been identified so far, with the possibility of more affected users. Victims were allegedly directed to an online betting platform, raising concerns of potential financial fraud, the FIR added.
