India records biggest single-day spike of new coronavirus cases and deaths

India’s count of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) reached 673,165 with the biggest single-day increase of 24,850 new cases and 613 deaths, data from the health ministry on Sunday.

This is the third consecutive day that coronavirus infections have increased by more than 20,000 in the country, said news agency PTI.

The number of recoveries stands at 4,09,082 while one patient has migrated. There are 2,44,814 active cases of coronavirus infections presently in the country, the updated data at 8 am showed.

"Thus, around 60.77 per cent of patients have recovered so far," PTI quoted an unnamed government official as saying.

The total number of confirmed cases include foreigners.

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 in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab and Telangana, two each from Goa and Jharkhand and one from Himachal Pradesh.

After the furore in the medical and scientific community following the letter from the head of the country’s premier, state-run medical research organisation, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), on Saturday clarified its stand. It claimed that the process to develop vaccine to fight Covid-19 pandemic is according to globally accepted norms of fast-tracking. The aim is to cut 'red-tape' and speed up recruitment of participants.

India's biggest exporter of motorbikes are demanding the temporary closure of one of its plants after 250 employees there tested positive for coronavirus, its unions said on Saturday, as companies struggle to ramp up operations, said news agency Reuters.

India went into complete lockdown in late March to curb the spread of the virus but it has recently eased restrictions despite the number of cases surging, putting some companies in a difficult position as they try to revive production.