With more than 4 lakh COVID-19 cases, India records world’s highest single-day spike

New Delhi, May 01: With more than 4 lakh cases, India became the first country in the world to register over 4 lakh infections in a single day.

India saw 4,01,993 new coronavirus infections in a span of 24 hours, the highest single-day rise so far, pushing the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 1,91,64,969, while active cases crossed the 32-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Saturday.

India is struggling with a second wave of the pandemic with more than 3,00,000 daily new coronavirus cases being reported in the past few days, and hospitals are reeling under a shortage of medical oxygen and beds.

As many as 299,988 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours and so far 15,684,406 people have recovered from the disease, the central health ministry's dashboard showed. With this, the country's recovery rate stands at 81.84%, the data also showed.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Saturday said that 28,83,37,385 samples were tested up to April 30 for Covid-19. Of these, 19,45,299 samples were tested yesterday.

Ten states Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have contributed the highest to the national tally of active Covid-19 cases.