India sees biggest daily spike of 95,735 COVID-19 cases

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) - India on Thursday recorded its biggest one-day COVID-19 case rise yet, with nearly 96,000 fresh cases in the last 24 hours bringing the total number to date to 4.4 million.

Indian Health Ministry figures Thursday morning showed that 95,735 new cases and 1,172 deaths were recorded in the country.

This is for the first time India has witnessed such a huge increase on a single day. With a massive increase of coronavirus cases on a daily basis, the country recently surpassed Brazil to become the country second-worst hit by the virus.

Total COVID-19 related deaths have now reached 75,062.

The western state of Maharashtra is leading the pandemic figures in India, with officials saying that for the first time in over three months, coronavirus numbers in the state "have now started to grow at a faster rate than the country as a whole.”

On Thursday morning, the Health Ministry also said that over one million tests were done across the country Wednesday.

Experts in the country say that by the end of September India may even surpass the US – the worst-affected country worldwide – in the severity of the pandemic.

According to the US’ John Hopkins University, which compiles coronavirus figures, India is ranked third globally in virus deaths.