India coronavirus count\, May 8: Over 56\,000 cases now\, 1\,886 dead

India's official Covid-19 count rose sharply in the past 24 hours to cross 56,000, Union Health ministry's daily update said.

As of 8 am today, there were 56,342 cases and 1,886 deaths in the country. 16,540 people have been declared as cured/discharged.

Maharashtra continued to be the worst affected state with 17,974 cases, followed by Gujarat (7,012) and Delhi (5,980).

According to ICMR, a total of 13,57,413 samples have been tested for the virus so far.

Globally, case count has reached 38,45,607. As many as 2,69,564 people have died so far.