India on Friday reported the worst single-day spike in the world with a record 77,266 fresh Coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours taking the tally to 33,87,501. As many as 1,057 fatalities were reported in the same period pushing the death toll to 61,529, Union Health Ministry data shows.

Of the total cases, 7,42,023 are active while 25,83,948 people have been cured of the deadly infection that was first reported in Kerala on January 30.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), as many as 9,01,338 samples were tested on Thursday, taking the total to 3,94,77,848 samples being tested till August 27.

Notably, India, which is the third worst hit country, has been churning out the highest number of daily Coronavirus cases in the world from the last three weeks, putting it ahead of the US and Brazil.

With over 77,000 fresh Coronavirus cases, India has registered the worst-ever spike recorded by any country so far.

On August 7, the country had recorded more than 60,000 cases for the first time and the graph has been on the rise since then. On Thursday, the country added 75,760 fresh cases.

Exactly a month ago, the country had registered 49,931 fresh novel Coronavirus cases and the total tally stood at 14.35 lakh. Not just the daily cases, but the overall cases have also taken a huge leap in a months’ time.

India’s journey to over 33 lakh cases precisely took six months and twenty-eight days since the emergence of the first case on January 30.

On July 17, the country had logged 10 lakh cases, which then doubled to 20 lakh in 20 days, on August 7 and added another 10 lakh on August 23. It has now added 3 lakh cases in four days.

Meanwhile, recoveries are 3.5 times the active cases and the recovery rate currently stands at 76.27 per cent.

Maharashtra remains the worst-hit state with 7,33,568 cases and 23,444 deaths followed by Tamil Nadu with 4,03,24 cases and 6,948 deaths and Andhra Pradesh with 3,93,090 cases and 3,633 deaths.

The Union Health Ministry on Thursday made a detailed presentation on the current status of the novel Coronavirus wherein it was observed that out of the total deaths in the country in the last two weeks, 89 per cent of the fatalities were reported from nine states and one Union Territory (UT).

The presentation was made by the Union Health Secretary during the meeting held by the Cabinet Secretary with the Chief Secretaries and Health Secretaries of nine states — Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Gujarat, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, and the UT Jammu and Kashmir.

All the states as well as the UT were directed to maintain a rigorous vigil so as to contain the spread of infection as well as take steps to reduce fatalities.

They were also asked to pro-actively take steps towards reducing case fatalities to less than 1 per cent across all districts by focusing on effective containment, contact tracing and surveillance, ensuring that at least in 80 per cent new positive cases, all close contacts should be traced and tested within 72 hours.

A direction was also given to them to ensure a minimum of 140 tests per million per day, leveraging antigen tests in containment zones and healthcare settings and re-testing of all symptomatic negatives with RT-PCR.

Regular monitoring of home isolation patients by tele-calling and home visits and ensuring timely admission to healthcare facilities if SPO2 level falls below the designated level has also been advised.

The states have been asked to put in public domain the availability of beds and ambulances across COVID-19 facilities while significantly reducing ambulance response time and monitoring week-wise fatality rates for each health facility with particular focus on vulnerable patients.

Globally, the overall number of Coronavirus cases has crossed 24.3 million, while the deaths have increased to over 829,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

As of Friday morning, the total number of cases stood at 24,356,619 and the fatalities rose to 829,861, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.

The US accounts for the world’s highest number of cases and deaths at 5,863,363 and 180,595 respectively, according to the CSSE.

Brazil comes in the second place with 3,761,391 infections and 118,649 deaths.