India has once again seen a record daily rise in coronavirus cases with 77,266 fresh cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the total count to 33,87,500, according to data from the Union Health Ministry this morning.
An additional 1,057 new deaths brought the overall death count to 61,529.
India has the third-highest number of virus infections in the world, after the United States and Brazil.
25,83,948 patients have recovered from the infection in the country, taking the recovery rate to 76.27 per cent. Maharashtra remains the hardest-hit state in the pandemic, accounting for 7,33,568 cases.
The coronavirus pandemic has killed over 8.31 lakh people globally since it emerged in China late last year. Over 2.44 crore people have been infected with the novel coronavirus.
The US is by far the hardest-hit country in the world in terms of both number of cases and deaths. The country passed the grim milestone of 1,80,000 coronavirus deaths on Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University's real-time tracker.
Here are the Highlights Coronavirus Pandemic:
Goa recorded 523 fresh coronavirus cases on Friday, which took the case tally in the state to 16,006, the health department said.
With four COVID-19 patients dying, death count reached 175, it added.
429 patients were discharged from hospitals, taking the number of recovered patients to 12,296.
The recovery rate of COVID-19 patients in West Bengal reached 80.86 per cent on Friday after 3,286 people were discharged from various hospitals of the state, a bulletin issued by the health department said.
So far, 1,24,332 people have recovered from the disease in West Bengal, PTI reported.
Sikkim's COVID-19 caseload rose to 1,576, with 34 more people testing positive for coronavirus, an official said on Friday.
Of the 34 new cases, 33 were reported from East Sikkim and one from West Sikkim, state IEC officer Sonam Bhutia said.
Sikkim now has 393 COVID-19 active cases as 1,180 people have recovered from the disease and three have died, he said.
Fifty-one more fatalities linked to COVID-19 pushed the death toll to 1,307 in Punjab while 1,555 new cases brought the infection tally to 49,378 in the state on Friday.
Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Friday held a protest against the Centre's decision to conduct Joint Entrance Exams (JEE) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) examinations in September 2020 and demanded the Centre to postpone the examinations in view of coronavirus pandemic.
The Congress leader further said the government should listen to the request and postpone the exams as the number of COVID-19 cases are constantly increasing and several big events across the globe are also being postponed, ANI reported.

Telangana: An idol of Lord Ganesh, in Hyderabad, has been given looks of Police personnel & doctor, and 'Mushakraj' has been styled after GHMC (Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation) staff - as a mark of respect to frontline workers, on #GaneshChaturthi amid #COVID19 pandemic. pic.twitter.com/gxpySheTxe
- ANI (@ANI) August 27, 2020