New Delhi, August 21: The COVID-19 tally in India crossed 29 lakh on Friday with a spike of 68,898 cases and 983 deaths in the past 24 hours. With the latest spike, the total coronavirus in the country has increased to 29,05,824. Of the total coronavirus cases in India, 6,92,028 are active cases while 21,58,947 COVID-19 patients have been cured/discharged/migrated from various hospitals. The death toll due to coronavirus in the country has mounted to 54,849, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

On Friday, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that the total number of samples tested up to August 20 is 3,34,67,237. Of the total number, 8,05,985 COVID-19 samples were tested on Thursday alone. The Health Ministry said testing in India has steeply increased to more than 9 lakh tests per day. This is bolstered with all States/UTs testing more than 140 tests/day/million population as advised by WHO. COVID-19 Vaccine Update: India to Start Phase 3 Trial of Coronavirus Vaccine Today or Tomorrow, Says NITI Aayog Member.

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Maharashtra, which the worst-affected state with coronavirus, now has 643,289 total cases. The state recorded a new high of 14,492 cases on Thursday and with 326 more fatalities, the state death toll shot up to 21,359. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu ranks second with most coronavirus cases and Andhra Pradesh ranks third. The COVID-19 tally in Gujarat mounted to 83,262 with the highest single-day spike of 1,175 cases on Thursday. The death toll rose to 2,855 with 16 new fatalities till Thursday, the state Health department said.

India continues to be the third worst-hit country by the coronavirus pandemic after the US and Brazil.  On the global front, the overall number of coronavirus cases topped 22.5 million, while the deaths have increased to over 792,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University. Till Friday, the total number of cases stood at 22,593,363 and the fatalities rose to 792,396. The US accounted for the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 5,573,501 and 173,114, respectively, according to the CSSE.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 21, 2020 09:56 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).