India's Covid-19 death toll reaches 26,273

INDIA's total Covid-19 cases reached 1,038,716 on Saturday (18) with 34,884 new cases reported in the last 24 hours. The virus claimed 671 lives on Friday (17) taking the total toll to 26,273., according to the health ministry.

India reported its first Covid-19 case on January 30. Now, it is the worst-hit country by the pandemic after the US and Brazil.

There are 358,692 active cases and 653,751 cured/discharged/migrated patients, according to government data. The country reported over 28,000 cases everyday in the past week.

Maharashtra, the worst-affected state, has a total of 292,589 coronavirus cases and 11,452 fatalities. While Tamil Nadu has a tally of 160,907 cases and 2,315 deaths, Delhi has reported a total of 120,107 cases and 3,571 deaths due to the virus.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said 13,433,742 samples were tested for Covid-19 till Friday.

With a surge in Covid-19 cases in Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Odisha, the ministry has asked these states to make renewed efforts to contain transmission of the virus and keep case fatality rate below one per cent.

India's total confirmed cases had surpassed one million on Friday.

The pandemic, which was first reported in China in early January, has now killed more than 590,000 people in almost seven months, edging towards the upper range of yearly influenza deaths reported worldwide.

Meanwhile, opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has said if the virus keeps spreading at the current pace then there will be more than two million cases by August 10.