India surpassed Spain on Saturday to become the fifth worst-hit nation by the coronavirus pandemic after a record spike in cases for four consecutive days pushed its total infections to more than 2,45,670, according to data maintained by the Johns Hopkins University. Spain so far has recorded 2,41,310 cases.
In less than 24 hours, India surpassed Italy and then Spain to reach the grim milestone. Now only the United States, Brazil, Russia and the United Kingdom are ahead of it.
According to the Union Health Ministry, India registered a record single-day spike of 9,887 cases and 294 deaths by 8am on Saturday, pushing the tally to 2,36,657 and the death toll to 6,642. The country registered over 9,000 cases for the third day in a row. The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 1,15,942.
A total of 1,14,073 people have recovered, with 4,611 patients having been cured in the last 24 hours, said the ministry. "Thus, around 48.2% patients have recovered so far," said a senior ministry official.
The ministry said cumulatively 45,24,317 samples have been tested so far with 1,37,938 in the last 24 hours.
Of the total 6,642 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 2,849 deaths, followed by Gujarat (1,190), Delhi (708), Madhya Pradesh (384), West Bengal (366), Uttar Pradesh (257), Tamil Nadu (232), Rajasthan (218), Telangana (113), Andhra Pradesh (73), Karnataka (57) and Punjab (48).
Jammu and Kashmir reported 36 fatalities, Bihar 29, Haryana 24, Kerala 14, Uttarakhand 11, Odisha 8 and Jharkhand 7. Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh have registered 5 COVID-19 deaths each, Assam 4, Chhattisgarh 2, Meghalaya and Ladakh 1 each.
According to the ministry, more than 70% of the deaths are due to co-morbidities.
According to the ministry data updated on Saturday morning, the highest number of confirmed cases are from Maharashtra at 80,229, followed by Tamil Nadu at 28,694, Delhi at 26,334, Gujarat at 19,094, Rajasthan at 10,084, UP at 9,733 and MP at 8,996.
The number of cases has gone up to 7,303 in West Bengal, 4,835 in Karnataka, 4,596 in Bihar and 4,303 in Andhra Pradesh. It has risen to 3,597 in Haryana, 3,324 in Jammu and Kashmir, 3,290 in Telangana and 2,608 in Odisha.
Punjab has reported 2,461 infections so far, while Assam has 2,153 cases. A total of 1,699 people have been infected in Kerala and 1,215 in Uttarakhand.
Jharkhand has registered 881 cases, Chhattisgarh 879, Tripura 692, Himachal 393, Chandigarh 304, Goa 196, Manipur 132 and Puducherry 99.
Ladakh has 97 cases, Nagaland 94, Arunachal 45, while Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Meghalaya have registered 33 infections each. Mizoram has reported 22 cases and Dadar and Nagar Haveli has 14 cases, while Sikkim has reported four cases till now.
"8,192 cases are being reassigned to states," the ministry said on its website, adding, "Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR."
(With inputs from PTI)