India has recorded another 24-hour jump in coronavirus infections as the disease spreads across the country's southern states after plateauing in the capital and the financial center of Mumbai. India's health ministry reported 69,878 new cases on Saturday, bringing the total to 2,975,701. Globally India has been reporting the biggest daily rise in cases for 18 consecutive days. With this latest spike, India's coronavirus cases stand at 2.97 million. The total cases are inclusive of 697,330 active cases, 2.22 million patients who have been cured/discharged or have migrated. A total of 945 deaths due to COVID-19 have been reported in the last 24 hours across the country, taking the death toll 55,794. As per the health ministry's website, Maharashtra has a total of 164,879 active cases and 21,698 deaths due to COVID-19 in the state. Tamil Nadu has 53,413 active cases and 6,340 deaths due to the coronavirus. Andhra Pradesh has a total of 87,803 active cases and 3,092 fatalities due to COVID-19. Karnataka has a total of 83,082 active cases and 4,522 deaths. Delhi has a total of 11,426 active cases and 4,270 deaths. The total number of samples tested up to Friday is 3.4 billion which is also inclusive of 1.02 million samples tested on Friday, said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Some 2.2 million people have recovered from the disease in India since the first case was diagnosed in late January. India has the third-highest caseload after the United States and Brazil, and its 55,794 deaths give it the fourth-highest death toll in the world. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, said on Friday that the goal was to end the pandemic within two years of its first emergence in Wuhan, China, late last year. — Agencies
