India enters Unlock 4: With 69,921 new cases, COVID-19 tally climbs to 3,691,166

New Delhi, Sep 01: As India entered the fourth phase of unlock on Tuesday, the country's has recorded 69,921 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, taking its total caseload to 3,691,166.

The ministry had said on Monday that the country's recovery rate has increased to 76.62 per cent, while the fatality rate has declined to 1.78 per cent.

The country's trajectory of daily cases of the coronavirus disease is now the highest ever recorded by any country and is swiftly narrowing gap with Brazil's total case tally. With 818 fatalities reported on Monday, India's death toll has breached the 65,000 mark, at 65,435.

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The five most affected states by total tally of cases are Maharashtra (792,541), Andhra Pradesh (424,767), Tamil Nadu (422,085), Karnataka (334,928), and Uttar Pradesh (225,632).

The fresh spike in the cases comes on a day when India lifted restrictions, marking gradual opening of the country and economy amid the pandemic. Under the new guidelines issued by the Centre for the fourth phase of Unlock, more activities would be allowed in areas outside the containment zones.