As the coronavirus cases in India continue to spread rapidly, India is now just behind the United States, Brazil, and Russia in terms of the total confirmed cases. It is, therefore, the biggest epicenter of the coronavirus disease pandemic in Asia and the fourth worst-affected nation in the world.

With nearly 20,000 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 count on Sunday crossed the 5.20 lakh-mark, while the death toll has crossed the 16,000-mark as well.

At 9:30 AM on this day, the COVID-19 tally in the country has reached 5,28,859 cases, which includes 2,03,051 active cases; 3,09,713 cured, discharged, or migrated patients, and 16,095 deaths.

According to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, as many as 19,906 new COVID-19 cases and 410 deaths were reported in the country in the last 24 hours, marking a significant spike. In fact, this is the highest single-day spike in the country's COVID-19 as of yet.

Maharashtra continues to be the epicenter of the coronavirus spread where the number of cases has witnessed an even large spike recently. According to the Health Ministry, Maharashtra has the highest number of cases with 1,59,133 positive cases of COVID-19 infection and 7,273 deaths. As many as 6,368 new cases were reported in the state in the last 24 hours.

Notably, Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, has become the hotbed of the coronavirus spread in the state where the number of cases has crossed the 72,000-mark and the death toll has topped the 4,000-mark as well. At 9:30 AM on this day, the COVID-19 tally in Mumbai showed 72,175 cases and 4,179 deaths.

One of the real challenges in Mumbai is controlling the disease contamination in Asia's biggest slum -- Dharavi, which is an extremely densely-populated region.

Maharashtra is followed by Delhi with 80,188 cases. The national capital crossed Tamil Nadu to take up second place in the list due to a recent massive surge in the number of cases.

Tamil Nadu is third on the list with 78,335 cases.

After Tamil Nadu comes Gujarat, where the COVID-19 figure stands at 30,773 cases with 22,417 patients recovered and 1,790 fatalities. Uttar Pradesh has reported 21,549 cases of which 14,215 have recovered and 649 patients are dead.

Rajasthan has reported 16,944 positive cases so far of which 13,367 patients have recovered and 391 patients have lost their lives due to the virus. In West Bengal, as many as 16,711 people have confirmed COVID-19, of which 10,789 recovered and 629 people succumbed to it.

In Kerala, which reported the country's first COVID-19 case, 4,072 people have been detected positive for coronavirus so far.

The Delhi government has said that the highest number of tests in a single day (around 21,144.tests) was conducted on Friday. "Delhi is now following the strategy of very aggressive testing and isolation," said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on this day. 

2,31,095 samples were tested yesterday and the total number of samples tested up to 27 June is 82,27,802, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The central government still keeps denying that community transmission is taking place in India.