With 3.14 lakh new COVID-19 cases, India records world's highest daily surge

New Delhi: The number of daily coronavirus cases in India hit a record high with over 3.14 lakh new infections being reported, pushing the overall count to 1,59,30,965, said the health ministry on Thursday. A total of 3,14,835 fresh infections were registered in a span of 24 hours, while the toll increased to 1,84,657 with a record 2,104 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed. Registering a steady increase for the 43rd in a row, the active cases have increased to 22,91,428 comprising 14.38 percent of the total infections. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,34, 54,880, taking the national COVID-19 recovery rate to 84.46 percent. The case fatality rate has further dropped to 1.16 percent, the data stated. India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on 7 August, 30 lakh on 23 August, 40 lakh on 5 September and 50 lakh on 16 September. It went past 60 lakh on 28 September, 70 lakh on 11 October, crossed 80 lakh on 29 October, 90 lakh on 20 November and surpassed the one-crore mark on 19 December. India crossed the grim milestone of 1.50 crore on 19 April, 2021. According to the ICMR, 27,27,05,103 COVID-19 samples have been tested up to 21 April with 16,51,711 samples being tested on Wednesday alone.