India witnesses record 346,786 COVID-19 cases, 2,624 deaths in a day
A paramedic uses an oximeter to check the oxygen level of a patient inside an ambulance while waiting to enter a COVID-19 hospital for treatment, amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Ahmedabad, India, April 22, 2021.
A record single-day rise of 346,786 coronavirus cases pushed India's tally of infection to 16,610,481, while active cases crossed the 25-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Saturday.
The death toll rose to 189,544 with a record 2,624 more fatalities in a day, the data updated at 8 am showed.
With a steady increase, active cases in the country reached 25,52,940 and comprise 15.37 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further dropped to 83.49 per cent.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease rose to 13,867,997, while the case fatality rate has dropped to 1.14 per cent, the data stated.
India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 2 millionmark on August 7, 3 millionon August 23 last year, 4 millionon September 5 and 5 millionon September 16. It went past 6 millionon September 28, 7 millionon October 11, crossed 8 millionon October 29, 9 millionon November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.
India crossed the grim milestone of a total of 1.5 millionCOVID-19 on April 19 this year.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 27,61,99,222 samples have been tested for COVID-19 till April 23 with 1753,569 of them being examined on Friday.