India reported a record surge in coronavirus cases on August 1 with 57,118 fresh infections in the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 16,95,988. The country also recorded 764 COVID-19 related deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the total fatalities due to the virus to 36,511.

The country’s COVID tally had surpassed the 16 lakh-mark on Friday, three days after crossing the 15 lakh infections. More than 10.94 lakh patients have recovered, pushing the recovery rate to 64.52 per cent this morning. India has tested a total of 1,93,58,659 samples so far. The positivity rate, percentage of patients who have tested positive for coronavirus, stood at 8.57 per cent.More than 60 per cent of total cases in India and over 50 per cent of total fatalities have been recorded in July.At 3.6 per cent, India’s rate of increase in cases is more than double than the 1.6 per cent in US and significantly higher than Brazil’s 2.3 per centMaharashtra, the country’s worst-affected state, logged a total of 10,320 new cases and 265 deaths on Friday, taking the total cases to 4,22,118 cases. The state has recorded the highest number of cases followed by Tamil Nadu with 2,45,859 cases.Andhra Pradesh has surpassed Delhi to become the third worst coronavirus-hit state in the country.With a record single-day spike of 2,496 cases, the total number of COVID-19 cases in West Bengal crossed the 70,000-mark on Friday. India cannot obtain herd immunity to stop the coronavirus pandemic due to its demography and scale, the Health Ministry said on Thursday, adding that the country will have to rely on a vaccine to fight COVID-19.

The deadly pandemic coronavirus has claimed nearly 675,000 lives and infected at least 17.3 million people since it emerged in China last December. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that coronavirus pandemic effects would be felt for decades.

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