With a record surge of 78,761 fresh cases in last 24 hours, the coronavirus tally in India reaches past 35 lakh, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday morning.
It is to be noted that this is the single-day highest jump in cases recorded by any country since the pandemic has broken out.
In a single-day surge in cases, United States of America stands behinds India as on July 17, the country had recorded 77,638 daily cases, according to an AFP tally.
In India, 948 deaths have been reported due to the virus in the last 24 hours. With this, the total number of deaths reached 63,498.
The recovery rate stood at 76.6 per cent and about 27 lakh people have recovered so far.
In last one week, there were five lakh cases of coronavirus recorded in the country.
Talking about the overall stats of the virus, India stands at third position in the list of worst affected countries after US and Brazil.
India has been recording highest single-day surge in cases since August 4.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Home Affairs had released the guidelines for the fourth phase of unlocking and allowed the social, academic, sports, entertainment, cultural, religious, political functions and other congregations with a ceiling of 100 persons from September 21 among other relaxations.
However, such limited gatherings can be held with the mandatory wearing of face masks, social distancing, provision for thermal scanning and hand wash or sanitizer, the guidelines said.
The central government has also permitted to resume the metro services in a phased manner as part of the fourth phase of unlocking.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal welcomed the decision of the government by saying, “I am glad that metro has been permitted to start its operations from 7 Sep in a phased manner.”
Earlier in the day, new set of guidelines has been issued by the Delhi government for the operations.
In its guidelines, the use of masks and smart cards has been made mandatory by the government. There will be a strict ban on tokens for the train ride and the passengers in each coach will be limited.
As a safety measure, the air conditioner of the metro trains will also be taken out to allow fresh air, said Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gehlot.
READ: Delhi Metro new guidelines: Use of masks, smart cards mandatory; no tokens allowed