KEY POINTS

  • India recorded more than 35,000 cases in the last 24 hours, making it the third nation to have more than 1 million COVID-19 cases 
  • States such as Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and more are seeing a surge in numbers 
  • Only the U.S. and Brazil are ahead of India in terms of the tally of cases

With more than 35,000 cases in the last 24 hours, India has become the third nation after the U.S. and Brazil to pass the grim milestone of 1 million COVID-19 cases as the life-threatening disease continues to spread rapidly in various states.

According to the official COVID-19 website set up by the Indian government, the country saw the highest single-day spike of 35,468 cases and 680 deaths. For the second consecutive day, India has added more than 30,000 new cases.

Only the United States and Brazil have recorded more cases than India. The U.S. has witnessed more than 3 million cases until now while Brazil has seen over 2 million cases.

Apart from being the third worst-hit nation, India also became the eighth country to report more than 25,000 deaths due to the global health crisis. The U.S., Brazil, Mexico, Spain, United Kingdom, Italy, and France are ahead of India as far as deaths are concerned.

According to Deccan Herald, the cases in states such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, and Rajasthan are increasing at an alarming rate and are causing a dent in India’s fight against the novel coronavirus.

In the last 24 hours, Maharashtra saw over 8,641 cases and 266 deaths. Meanwhile, 5,527 patients were discharged from the hospitals in the area after recovering from the disease. The state has now seen more than 284,000 cases and 11,194 deaths due to COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are the two other states that are seeing a surge in numbers. Tamil Nadu saw 4,549 cases Thursday while Karnataka reported 4,169 new infections.

Meanwhile, another report claimed that 10 cities account for 52.7% of all the active cases in the nation.

However, the Union Health Ministry believes that there has been a steady “dip” in the number of active cases.

“Of the total COVID-19 cases, 63.25 percent have recovered so far. Simultaneously, there has been a steady dip in the number of active cases, from around 45 percent in mid-June to around 34.18 percent as of now," The Economic Times quoted the Health Ministry, as saying.

As of late, India has 3,43,036 active COVID-19 cases. On the other hand, a total of 6,36,602 people have recovered from the illness.

Here’s the list of five Indian states with the most number of COVID-19 cases:

Maharashtra – 284,281 cases

Tamil Nadu – 156,369 cases

Delhi – 118,645 cases

Karnataka – 51,422 cases

Gujarat – 45,567 cases

India's health service has been struggling to cope with the coronavirus, which is killing nearly 500 people a day
India's health service has been struggling to cope with the coronavirus, which is killing nearly 500 people a day AFP / XAVIER GALIANA