India sees biggest single day spike of nearly 39,000 new coronavirus cases

India reported the biggest single day rise of 38,902 in coronavirus cases, pushing the total tally to 10,77,618 today, according to health ministry data.

In the last 24 hours, 543 deaths linked to Covid-19 were reported, taking the total death count to 26,816.

The recovery rate stood at 62.86 percent this morning with active Covid-19 cases now pegged at 3,73,379 and 6,77,422 people having recovered so far in the country, according to the health ministry.

Maharashtra, the worst-hit state by the pandemic, surpassed grim milestone of three lakh last night while its capital Mumbai crossed the one lakh cases mark with an addition of 1,186 new patients in the last 24 hours, the state health department said.

Delhi on Saturday night reported a single-day coronavirus spike of 1,475 cases which took its aggregate to 1,21,582 cases. The city's total recoveries stood at 1,01,274 with 1,973 people getting cured in the last 24 hours.

Scaling new high, West Bengal reported over 2,000 new Covid-19 cases in a single-day last night as the state's tally breached the 40,000-mark, according to the state health department.

West Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha told reporters in Kolkata yesterday that the entire state would not be brought under total lockdown and only containment zones with high number of cases would be kept under strict lockdown.

Notwithstanding the surging cases, Sinha said there was no need to panic as the coronavirus situation was "under control" in the state where all economic activities have been allowed to resume since June with minimum curbs.

Sinha said the spike in number was expected as more and more testing is being done.

The government in southern state of Karnataka has asked private hospitals in state capital Bengaluru to set aside 50 percent of their beds for coronavirus patients from today as it struggles to slow the spread of the virus.

Tamil Nadu yesterday reported its highest single day spike in Covid-19 infections as well as the number of daily deaths, with the total infection count crossing 1.65 lakh.

With coronavirus positive cases on the rise, the Kerala state government is setting up Covid First-Line Treatment Centres across the state to help bolster medical infrastructure facilities, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.

He also said there was "community transmission" of the virus in some coastal areas of Kerala.

The authorities in north eastern state of Assam have barred inter-district movement of individuals from July 22 till further orders to prevent Covid-19 spread.

The state government, however, has decided not to extend the three-week lockdown in Guwahati.