India reported another high of 77,266 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, raising the country's total to more than 3.38 million reported cases, as the virus claimed the life of a lawmaker belonging to the opposition Congress party. H. Vasanthakumar, who represented Kanyakumari, succumbed to the coronavirus on Friday. The first time lawmaker from Tamil Nadu, Vasanthakumar was being treated at the Greams Road facility of the Apollo Hospitals in Chennai. He was admitted to the hospital on Aug. 10 and was in critical condition after being infected with the virus. India has reported the highest global single-day caseload every day since Aug. 7, a Reuters tally showed, and is the third-most affected country after the United States and Brazil. Nearly 47 percent of India's virus cases were detected this month alone. The Health Ministry on Friday also reported 1,057 deaths for a total of 61,529. The recovery rate was recorded at 76.2 percent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate has further declined to 1.82 percent. There are 742,023 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 21.9 percent of the total caseload, the data showed. With up to 900,000 tests every day, India's cumulative tests reached 39 million on Thursday, the ministry said. — Agencies
