New Delhi, August 12: India on Wednesday reported a single-day spike of 60,963 coronavirus cases and 834 deaths. The COVID-19 tally rose to 23,29,639 on Wednesday. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, there are currently 6,43,948 active cases in the country, while 16,39,599 have recovered from coronavirus until now. One patient had migrated to another country. The death toll in India due to COVID-19 also mounted to 46,091. India's Single-Day Count of COVID-19 Cases More Than That of US, Brazil in Past 7 Days: WHO Data.

India’s recovery rate improved to 70.37 percent. The fatality rate also dropped below two percent. India is the third-worst affected country after the United States and Brazil in terms of the number of coronavirus cases and had the fifth-highest number of deaths in the world due to the deadly virus. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 7,33,439 samples, the highest so far were tested for COVID-19 on August 11.

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Maharashtra is the worst-hit state of India. Till now, 5,35,601 people have contracted COVID-19 in the state, while 18,306 have lost their lives. The state recovery rate moved up from 68.33 per cent to 68.79 per cent on Tuesday, while the current mortality (death) rate stood at 3.42 percent. Over 3.5 lakh patients have recovered in the state so far. Coronavirus cases are also rising rapidly in southern states of India, including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi conducted a virtual meeting with Chief Ministers of 10 states, including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh  over the COVID-19 situation. The Prime Minister said that surveillance, contact tracing and containment is the major weapon in battling COVID-19.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 12, 2020 10:14 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).