India reported its highest-ever single-day spike of COVID-19 cases with over 261,500 new cases and more than 1,500 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry on Sunday.
In the last 24 hours, 1,501 COVID-related deaths were reported in the country taking the death toll to 177,150. As many as 261,500 new COVID-19 cases have been reported in India in the last 24 hours. With this, the total number of cases has gone up to 14,788,109. The active number of cases in the country stands at 1,801,316.
In the last 24 hours, 138,423 people recovered from the disease. With this, the total recoveries reached 12,809,643.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, 1,566,394 samples were tested on Saturday. And, as many as 266,538,416 samples have been tested across the country till 17 April.
Meanwhile, the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country stands at 122,622,590 till today.
The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) approved the use of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus in the country on 12 April. Now, India has three vaccines
Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V for its inoculation programme against COVID-19.
From 2 April, the government started vaccinating all people above 45 years. India started its vaccination drive on 16 January with priority given to all healthcare and frontline workers in the first phase. The second phase started on 1 March where doses were administered to people above the age of 60 and those between 45 and 59 years with specific comorbidities.
