Daily spike of over 349,000 new Covid cases in India, record 2,767 deaths

India's infection tally is at 16.9 million

India logged a record 3,49,691 new coronavirus infections in a day taking it total tally of COVID-19 cases to1,69,60,172,while active cases crossed the 2.6-million mark,according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.

The death toll increased to1,92,311witha record2,767 daily new fatalities,thedata updated at 8 am showed.

Registering a steady increase, the active cases have increased to26,82,751comprising 15.82per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further dropped to 83.05 per cent.

Thenumber of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,40,85,110,while the case fatality rate has further dropped to 1.13 per cent, the data stated.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 2-million mark on August 7,3 million on August 23, 4 million on September 5 and 5 million on September 16. It went past 6 million on September 28, 7 millioon on October 11, crossed 8 million on October 29, 9 million on November 20 andsurpassed theone-crore mark on December 19. India crossed the grim milestone of 1.50 crore on April 19.

According to the ICMR, 27,79,18,810 samples have been tested up to April 25with17,19,588 samples being tested on Saturday.

The 2,767 new fatalities include 676 from Maharashtra, 357 from Delhi, 222from Uttar Pradesh, 218 fromChhattisgarh, 208 from Karnataka, 152 from Gujarat and110 from Jharkhand and 104 from Madhya Pradesh.

A total of 1,92,311deaths have been reported so far in the country including 63,928 from Maharashtra, 14,283 from Karnataka, 13,475 from Tamil Nadu, 13,898 from Delhi, 10,959 from Uttar Pradesh, 10,884 from West Bengal, 8,356 from Punjab and 7,616 from Andhra Pradesh.

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.