India records highest single-day spike of 69,874 coronavirus cases; tally nears 3 million mark

The death toll climbed to 55,794 with 945 fatalities being reported in a span of 24 hours, the recovery rate increased to 74.69 percent on Saturday, as per the Ministry of health data.

New Delhi: With a record single-day spike of 69,874 coronavirus cases in a day, India's tally increased to 29,75,701, while the recoveries surged to 22,22,577 pushing the recovery rate to 74.69 percent on Saturday, as per the Ministry of health data.

The death toll climbed to 55,794 with 945 fatalities being reported in a span of 24 hours, the data updated on Saturday showed. The COVID-19 case fatality rate has declined to 1.87 percent, it said.

There are 6,97,330 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 23.43 percent of the total caseload, the data stated. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7. 

The total number of samples tested up to 21st August is 3,44,91,073 which is also inclusive of 10,23,836 samples tested yesterday, said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Of the 945 fresh deaths, 339 are from Maharashtra, 101 from Tamil Nadu, 93 from Karnataka, 91 from Andhra Pradesh, 64 from Uttar Pradesh, 55 from West Bengal, 34 from Punjab, 15 from Jammu and Kashmir, 14 each from Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, 13 from Delhi, 12 each from Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and 11 from Jharkhand.

Of the total 55,794 deaths, Maharashtra has reported the maximum at 21,698 followed by 6,340 in Tamil Nadu, 4,522 in Karnataka, 4,270 in Delhi,?3,092 in Andhra Pradesh, 2,867 in Gujarat, 2,797 in Uttar Pradesh, 2,689 in West Bengal and 1,185 in Madhya Pradesh.