Coronavirus curve ''frightening, not flattening'': Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi, Aug 13: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday attacked the government over rising COVID-19 cases, saying the coronavirus curve is "frightening, not flattening".

His attack came on a day India recorded a record single-day increase of 66,999 cases, taking its COVID-19 tally to 23,96,637.

Gandhi also posted a graph of daily cases being recorded by the US, Brazil and India -- the three worst hit nations in terms of caseload.

"Corona curve -- Frightening not Flattening," Gandhi said.

Taking a swipe at the prime minister over his remarks that India is in a better position compared with other countries, the former Congress chief tweeted in Hindi, "If this is PM''s ''more stable situation'', then what would one call ''deteriorated situation''?"

The government has maintained that India is in a much better position than other countries with a high recovery rate and a low fatality rate.

The COVID-19 recovery rate rose to 70.77 per cent on Thursday with the total number of patients recuperating from the disease reaching nearly 17 lakh.

The case fatality rate has further declined to 1.96 per cent, the Union Health Ministry said.

It said "record-high" recoveries have led to a decline in the "actual caseload" of the country, which is the number of active cases, and currently is only 27.27 per cent of the total cases.

The death toll due to COVID-19 climbed to 47,033.