India records highest single-day COVID-19 cases

By Shuriah Niazi

NEW DELHI (AA) – India registered its biggest surge in coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours with 19,906 new patients on Sunday, said the Health Ministry.

The tally of cases has now reached 528,859 in the country.

The death toll hit 16,095 after 410 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.

Guwahati, capital of northeastern state of Assam, will be placed under complete lockdown for a period of 14 days to curb the spread of coronavirus.

There will be no supply of vegetables and other essentials items for the first seven days, said the state government in a statement.

The western state of Maharashtra with 159,133 cases is still at number one in terms of COVID-19 cases in the country.

Delhi with 80,000 cases is the worst-affected city in the country. The total number of deaths has reached 2,558 in the capital.

Meanwhile, Indian government on Saturday allowed the use of Dexamethasone as an alternative choice to Methylprednisolone for managing moderate to severe cases of COVID-19. The change has been made after considering the latest available evidence and expert consultation, according to an official statement by the government.

India is the fourth worst-hit country in the world by the pandemic after the United States, Brazil and Russia.