India records highest single-day spike of 69,874 COVID-19 cases; tally rises to 29,75,701

New Delhi: With a record spike of 69,874 infections in a day, India’s COVID-19 tally increased to 29,75,701, while the recoveries rose to 22,22,577 pushing the recovery rate to 74.69 per cent on Saturday, according to the Union health ministry data.

The death toll climbed to 55,794 with 945 fatalities being reported in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The COVID-19 case fatality rate has declined to 1.87 per cent, it said.

There are 6,97,330 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 23.43 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7.

A cumulative total of 3,44,91,073 samples have been tested up to August 21 with 10,23,836 samples being tested on Friday, the highest done in a day so far, Lokesh Sharma, scientist and media coordinator at ICMR said.