India sees record spike of 24,850 Covid cases, 613 deaths in 24 hrs

With a record single-day surge of 24,850 coronavirus infections and 613 fatalities, India's COVID-19 caseload zoomed to 6,73,165, while the death toll due to the disease climbed to 19,268 on Sunday, according to the Union health ministry.

With this, the country has recorded over 20,000 cases of the infection for the third consecutive day.

According to the Johns Hopkins University in the United States, which has been compiling COVID-19 data from all over the world, India is the fourth worst-hit nation by the pandemic after the US, Brazil and Russia and at the eighth position in terms of the death toll due to the disease.

Maharashtra crossed the grim milestone of two lakh COVID-19 cases, recording a single-day increase of 7,074, the health ministry's updated data at 8 am showed.

Tamil Nadu registered 4,280 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, while Delhi, Telangana, Karnataka, Assam and Bihar added a total of 7,935 cases in a day. These seven states accounted for around 78 per cent of the fresh cases.

With a steady rise, the number of recoveries stands at 4,09,082 in the country while one patient has migrated.

There are 2,44,814 active coronavirus cases in the country, the data showed.

The number of recovered cases exceeded that of the active cases by 1,64,268 as of Sunday, the ministry said.

"Thus, 60.77 per cent of the patients have recovered so far," it said.

The total number of confirmed cases also includes foreigners.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 97,89,066 samples were tested for the disease in the country till July 4, with 2,48,934 of those tested on Saturday.

Of the 613 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, 295 are from Maharashtra, 81 from Delhi, 65 from Tamil Nadu, 42 from Karnataka, 24 from Uttar Pradesh, 21 from Gujarat, 19 from West Bengal, 12 from Andhra Pradesh, nine from Bihar, eight from Jammu and Kashmir, seven from Rajasthan, five each from Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab and Telangana, two each from Goa and Jharkhand and one fatality was registered in Himachal Pradesh.

Of the 19,268 deaths reported so far, Maharashtra accounted for 8,671, followed by Delhi (3,004), Gujarat (1,925), Tamil Nadu (1,450), Uttar Pradesh (773), West Bengal (736), Madhya Pradesh (598), Rajasthan (447) and Karnataka (335).

The COVID-19 death toll reached 288 in Telangana, 260 in Haryana, 218 in Andhra Pradesh, 162 in Punjab, 127 in Jammu and Kashmir, 89 in Bihar, 42 in Uttarakhand, 34 in Odisha and 25 in Kerala.

Jharkhand has registered 17 deaths due to the disease, Chhattisgarh and Assam have reported 14 each, Puducherry has recorded 12, Himachal Pradesh 11, Chandigarh and Goa have registered six each and Meghalaya, Tripura, Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh have reported a fatality each, according to ministry.

More than 70 per cent of the deaths were due to comorbidities, it said.

Maharashtra has reported the highest number of 2,00,064 cases, followed by Tamil Nadu (1,07,001), Delhi (97,200), Gujarat (35,312), Uttar Pradesh (26,554), Telangana (22,312) and Karnataka (21,549).

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 21,231 in West Bengal, 19,532 in Rajasthan, 17,699 in Andhra Pradesh, 16,548 in Haryana and 14,604 in Madhya Pradesh.

It has risen to 11,700 in Bihar, 10,668 in Assam, 8,601 in Odisha and 8,246 in Jammu and Kashmir.

Punjab has reported 6,109 cases of the infection, while Kerala has 5,204 cases.

A total of 3,161 people have been infected with the virus in Chhattisgarh, 3,093 in Uttarakhand, 2,739 in Jharkhand, 1,684 in Goa, 1,546 in Tripura, 1,325 in Manipur, 1,046 in Himachal Pradesh and 1,005 in Ladakh.

Puducherry has recorded 802 COVID-19 cases, Nagaland 563, Chandigarh 460 and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu have together reported 271 cases.

Arunachal Pradesh has reported 259 cases, Mizoram 164, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands 119, Sikkim 103 and Meghalaya 62.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR," the ministry said, adding that 4,629 cases are being reassigned to states.

State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said.