India records 56,211 fresh COVID-19 cases

New Delhi: India recorded 56,211 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, 17 per cent lower than the day before, taking the total tally to 1,20,95,855 on Tuesday, IANS reported.

On Monday, the country recorded 68,020 cases, the highest single-day spike in daily new cases since October 11, last year.

Lower count of cases are a result of low testing. According to the ICMR, 24,26,50,025 samples have been tested up to March 28 with 7,85,864 samples being tested on Monday.

On Sunday, 9.13 lakh samples were tested, compared to over 10 lakh samples the previous days, according to the data by the apex research body.

Prior to this, India registered a steady increase for 19 days in a row.

The active cases have now increased to 5,40,720 comprising, 4.47 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate is at 94.19 per cent.

The toll increased to 1,62,114 with 271 daily new fatalities. The number of people who have recovered from the disease surged to 1,13,93,021, while the case fatality rate stood at 1.34 per cent, the data stated.

India fought through the first wave of infection six months ago and recorded a highest single-day spike of 93,617 cases on September 16. The highest number of deaths recorded in a day were 1,169 on September 15.

Eight states -- Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh are logging high number of Covid-19 daily new cases, the Health Ministry said.

The Centre has advised high-burden states and union territories to take stringent measures for containment of the surge.

So far, 6.11 crore doses of corona vaccine have been administered in the country since the drive began on January 16 after approval for 'Covishield' and 'Covaxin'.

Many states did not schedule vaccination sessions due to Holi on Monday.