New Delhi, August 5: India's COVID-19 tally on Wednesday crossed the 19-lakh mark with single-day spike of 52,509 new cases and 857 deaths in the past 24 hours. In its latest health bulletin, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said that the coronavirus count in the country has now touched  19,08,255 while the death toll rose to 39,795. Out of the total cases in India, 5,86,244 are active cases while a total of 12,82,216 people have been cured/discharged/migrated. India has one of the lowest Case Fatality Rate (CFR) at 2.09 per cent as compared to the global average.

The country has a recovery rate of 66.3 percent. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has said that a cumulative total of 2,14,84,402 samples have been tested in India up to August 4, 2020. Of the total, 6,19,652 COVID-19 samples were tested on August 4, alone. Maharashtra remained the worst-hit state in the country with the COVID-19 tally reaching 4,57,956 with addition of 7,760 cases. The death toll in the state rose to 16,142 with 300 deaths on Tuesday, the state Health department said. India's COVID-19 Case Fatality Rate 2.15%, Lowest Since Lockdown Started.

Karnataka witnessed its biggest single-day spike of 6,259 COVID-19 cases and 110 deaths on Tuesday. The total infection tally in the southern state mounted to 1,45,830 while the death toll rose to 2,704; active case count 73,846, the State health department said.

India remains the third worst-hit nation after the US and Brazil. On Tuesday, World Health Organisation's (WHO) Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan had said that India's testing rate is low, compared to other countries which have done well in combating the pandemic. Underlining the importance of adequate testing for coronavirus, she said India, as a whole, has a low testing rate compared to some of the countries which have done well like Germany, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and even the US.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 05, 2020 10:07 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).