India recorded 40,425 new coronavirus cases and 681 deaths in the last 24 hours, in the biggest single-day jump, government data this morning showed. The fresh cases put the total tally in India, the nation with the third highest number of COVID019 cases, at 11,18,043. The latest deaths bring the total fatalities to 27,497. The country's recovery rate - the number of patients who have successfully fought the viral illness - stood at 62.61 per cent this morning. 7,00,087 people have recovered, the Health Ministry said.
Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases, followed by Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.
Maharashtra on Sunday reported its highest ever surge in new COVID-19 cases, at 9,518, taking the state's tally to 3,10,455. While Mumbai reported 1,038 new cases, Pune reported over 1,800 cases taking the city's tally to nearly 40,000 cases. After senior cabinet ministers in the Maharashtra government, like Jitendra Ahwad, Ashok Chavan and Dhananjay Munde, now Mumbai city's Guardian Minister and Congress leader Aslam Shaikh has tested positive for COVID-19. Mr Shaikh announced on Twitter that he is asymptomatic and is self-isolating. He has also advised those who came into contact with him to get themselves tested.
Tamil Nadu reported a new single day high of 4,979 fresh COVID-19 cases as the overall tally crossed 1.70 lakh in the state. The cases in capital Chennai now appear to be stable - with 1,200 new cases - after the three-week long complete lockdown. However, Chennai's three neighbouring districts and Madurai in southern Tamil Nadu are continue to see a spike in coronavirus cases.
Uttar Pradesh has recorded 49,650 cases so far. Capital Lucknow is seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases, a concern big enough for many parts of the city being declared as "large containment zones" for a week starting this morning . Neighbouring Kanpur, around 80 km north of Lucknow, also has a very worrying pandemic situation with the state's highest death count for a single district. Kanpur has overtaken the west ern UP hotspots of Agra and Meerut in the death count. Both districts have seen over 90 deaths.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday talked to the Chief Ministers of seven states - Bihar, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand - to discuss the coronavirus and flood situations.
