COVID-19: India records highest single-day spike of 265 deaths, 7,964 cases

The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 4,971 and the number of cases climbed to 1,73,763 in the country registering a record single day spike of 265 deaths and 7,964 cases till Saturday 8 am, according to the Union Health Ministry. The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 86,422 while 82,369 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said. In the last 24 hours, 11,264 patients have recovered. "Thus, around 47.40 per cent patients have recovered so far," a senior health ministry official said.

Of the 265 deaths reported since Friday morning, 116 were in Maharashtra, 82 in Delhi, 20 in Gujarat, 13 in Madhya Pradesh, nine in Tamil Nadu, seven in West Bengal, four each in Telangana and Rajasthan, two in Punjab and one each in Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. Of the total 4,971 fatalities.

Maharashtra tops the tally with 2,098 deaths followed by Gujarat (980), Delhi (398,) Madhya Pradesh (334), West Bengal (302), Uttar Pradesh (198), Rajasthan (184), Tamil Nadu (154), Telangana (71) and Andhra Pradesh (60). The death toll reached 48 in Karnataka, 42 in Punjab, 28 in Jammu and Kashmir, 19 in Haryana, 15 in Bihar, eight in Kerala, and seven in Odisha.

Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand have registered five COVID-19 fatalities while Chandigarh and Assam have recorded four deaths each so far. Meghalaya and Chhattisgarh have reported one COVID-19 fatality each, according to the ministry data. According to the ministry's website, more than 70 per cent of the deaths are due to comorbidities.