India's COVID-19 cases surge past 33.87 lakh after 77,266 test positive in single day, says health ministry

New Delhi: India recorded 77,266 COVID-19 infections for the first time in single day, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) on Friday. With 1,057 more deaths in the past 24 hours, the COVID-19 toll has reached 61,529. “The country’s coronavirus count stands at 33,87,501 including 7,42,023 active cases, 25,83,948 cured/discharged/migrated,” said the health ministry. Active cases in Maharashtra have reached 1,78,561, the highest in the country followed by Andhra Pradesh with 94,209. At least 9,01,338 COVID-19 samples were tested on Friday alone while, overall over 3.94 crore samples have been tested so far, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The Union Health Ministry informed that more than three-fourth of cases have recovered in the past five months and less than one-fourth are active. “In the past 5 months, more than 3/4 of cases have recovered and less than 1/4 are active now. Effective implementation of the Centre’s strategic and graded TEST-TRACK-TREAT approach has led to higher recoveries and lower fatality,” MOHFW tweeted.