DW BUREAU / SHIMLA The COVID-19 case tally of Himachal Pradesh rose to 2,749 on Monday with 45 more people testing positive for the disease, officials said. So far, 13 people have died of the infection in the state. Of the fresh cases, 30 were reported from Mandi, six from Kangra, four from Chamba, three from Sirmaur and two from Hamirpur, the officials said. In Mandi, the fresh cases include a 26-year-old man of Dhawali in Sundernagar who returned from Russia on July 26 and was institutionally quarantined at a private hotel, a district official said. Besides, 23 people, who were contacts of a COVID-19 patient, also tested positive in Bagsyad of Thunag, he added. Four of the fresh cases are from the Palace Colony area and two from the office of the general manager of District Industry Centre (DIC) in Mandi, the official said. Till now, 1,612 people have recovered from the infection while 18 patients have migrated out of the state. Fifty-three patients -- 16 in Shimla, 13 in Mandi, 10 in Kangra, six in Hamirpur, three each in Chamba and Sirmaur and two in Solan -- recovered from the infection on Monday, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) R D Dhiman said. There are 1,104 active COVID-19 cases in the state now, the officials said. Solan has the highest number of active cases in the state at 391, followed by 167 in Sirmaur, 151 in Mandi, 126 in Kangra, 77 in Shimla, 60 in Una, 39 in Chamba, 36 in Bilaspur, 27 in Hamirpur, 19 in Kullu and 11 in Kinnaur. India's COVID-19 tally crossed the 18-lakh mark on Monday, just a day after it went past 17 lakh, with 52,972 cases reported in a day while the number of recoveries surged to over 11.86 lakh, according to the Union Health Ministry data. The number of COVID-19 tests carried out in India has also crossed the 2 crore-mark, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The total coronavirus cases surged to 18,03,695, while the death toll due to COVID-19 climbed to 38,135 with 771 people succumbing to the disease in a day, the data updated at 8 am showed. There are 5,79,357 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country at present while the recoveries have increased to 11,86,203.As many as 40,574 people have recovered from COVID-19 in a day, according to the data. The COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 65.77 per cent, while the fatality rate is at 2.11 per cent, the data stated. The total number of confirmed cases also includes foreigners. This is the fifth consecutive day that COVID-19 cases have increased by more than 50,000 in the country. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 17-lakh mark on Sunday. According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 2,02,02,858 samples have been tested up to August 2 with 3,81,027 samples being tested on Sunday. (editor@dailyworld.in)