India reports biggest spike with 3.6 lakh COVID-19 cases, 3,293 deaths in 24 hours

India saw a record single-day rise of 3,60,960 coronavirus cases, which pushed the total tally to 1,79,97,267, while the death count crossed two lakh following 3,293 fresh fatalities, according to Union health ministry data updated on Wednesday.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease is 1,48,17,371, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.12 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.

Registering a steady increase, the active cases have risen to 29,78,709, comprising 16.55 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further dropped to 82.33 per cent, it said.

The death count stands at 2,01,187, the data stated.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7 last year, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.

Meanwhile, the first emergency medical supplies have arrived in India as part of a global campaign to staunch a catastrophic wave in the latest pandemic hotspot, with the United States also pledging to export millions of AstraZeneca vaccine doses. Crates of ventilators and oxygen concentrators from Britain were unloaded at the Delhi airport early Tuesday, the first emergency medical supplies to arrive in the country where infection and death rates are growing exponentially.

The explosion in infections in India 350,000 new cases were recorded there on Tuesday alone has driven a surge in global cases to 147.7 million and the virus has now killed more than 3.1 million people worldwide.

In New Delhi, images showed smoke billowing from dozens of pyres lit inside a parking lot that has been turned into a makeshift crematorium.

The United States, France, Germany, Canada, the EU and the World Health Organization have all promised to rush supplies to India. On Monday, US President Joe Biden announced the United States would send up to 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine abroad.