New Delhi, August 20: India's COVID-19 tally crossed the 28 lakh mark on Thursday with a spike of 69,652 cases and 977 deaths in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said. With the latest spike, the total number of coronavirus cases in the country mounted to 28,36,926. Of the total cases, 6,86,395 are active cases, while a total of 20,96,665 COVID-19 patients have been cured/discharged/migrated from different hospitals. The death toll in the country has mounted to 53,866, the Health Ministry said. Coronavirus Tracker in India.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Thursday informed that a total of 3,26,61,252 COVID-19 samples have been tested so far across India. Of the total tests conducted, 9,18,470 samples were tested on August 19 alone. India had touched the 20-lakh mark on August 7 and added more than eight lakh cases in less than two weeks. COVID-19 Tracker Worldometers: Maharashtra Has More Coronavirus Cases Than South Africa, The Fifth Worst-Hit Country in The World.

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Maharashtra remained the worst-hit state with 6,28,642 coronavirus cases after a spike of 13,165 new cases on Wednesday. With 346 more fatalities, the death toll shot up to 21,033. Maharashtra was followed by Tamil Nadu with the total number of coronavirus infected patients rising up by  5,795 to 3,55,449 in the state. The death toll in the southern state rose to 6,123. Chennai, the state capital, continued to top the list with total tally touching 1,20,267.

India continues to be the third worst-affected country by coronavirus after the US and Brazil. The global coronavirus cases topped 22.3 million, while the deaths have increased to over 786,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University. Till August 20, the total number of COVID-19 cases across the world rose to 22,322,208 while the fatalities jumped to 7,86,185. The US accounted for the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 5,527,306 and 1,73,114 while Brazil ranks second with 3,456,652 infections and 111,100 deaths.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 20, 2020 09:58 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).