6,61,892 samples were tested on Monday, the highest done in a day so far.
India's COVID-19 count rose to 18,55,745 after 52,050 people tested positive on Tuesday, while the death count increased by 803 to reach 38,938, figures from the Union Health Ministry showed. 12,30,509 patients across the country have recovered so far, taking the recovery rate to 66.30% per cent. Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the latest among prominent public figures in the country to have contracted the virus, which has led to the death of a minister in the Uttar Pradesh government. Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. 6,61,892 samples were tested on Monday, the highest done in a day so far.
Here are the top 10 developments on coronavirus cases in India:
In a brief post on Twitter, Mr Siddaramaiah said that he has tested positive and that been admitted to the hospital on the advice of doctors. He is the second prominent leader from Karnataka, after Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa to have contracted the virus. Both the leaders are undergoing treatment at the Manipal Hospital.
"A total of 1,05,32,074 tests for detection of coronavirus infection have been performed with per day average of 3,39,744 tests in July, the highest number of tests conducted in a month so far," scientist and media coordinator at ICMR, Dr Lokesh Sharma was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. There are 917 labs in the government sector and 439 labs in the private sector for conducting COVID-19 tests.
Maharashtra's COVID-19 tally on Monday increased to 4,50,196 with the addition of 8,968 fresh cases, while more than 260 deaths due to the infection, the state health department said. With 266 fresh deaths, the fatality count increased to 15,842, said an official from the health department.
The national capital recorded 805 fresh coronavirus cases on Monday, the lowest in over two months, taking the infection tally to 1,38,482, authorities said on Monday. According to a health bulletin, 10,133 tests -- 3,904 RTCPR and 6,229 Rapid Antigen -- were conducted in the last 24 hours. On an average, 18,000-19,000 tests were being conducted daily since testing was ramped up significantly in mid-June.
Neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, however, reported its highest single-day spike of 3,505 new infections on Monday. The state now has a total of over 70,000 cases and 1,456 COVID-19-related deaths.
India's COVID-19 tally crossed the 18-lakh mark on Monday, just a day after it went past 17 lakh, with 52,972 cases being reported in a day. It took just 186 days for India to cross the 18-lakh mark, after the first case was reported in Kerala in January this year. The country had crossed the one lakh-mark in 110 days.
More than 60 per cent of total cases in the country and over 50 per cent of total deaths have been recorded in July. Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi -- a fierce and frequent critic of the Prime Minister over a pandemic -- on Monday night posted an infographic from a news channel that showed India registered the most cases in the world over a 24-hour period ending 9.30 AM. Last month Mr Gandhi sounded a warning - India would cross 20 lakh cases by August 10 - something that appears certain to happen well before that deadline given the current rate of new cases.
India is third on the list of worst-affected countries; only the United States (46.7 lakh cases) and Brazil (27.3 lakh cases) are worse off. The UN health agency has warned that the coronavirus pandemic would be lengthy and could lead to "response fatigue", as India and the Philippines reported a record rise in new cases.
Six months after the World Health Organization declared a global emergency, the novel coronavirus has killed more than 680,000 people and infected more than 17.5 million, according to news agency AFP.
