People wait in line to take COVID-19 test at a health centre in Hyderabad, India, on July 29, 2020. (Str/Xinhua)
India reported the country's highest single daily spike of 52,123 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, raising the total to 1,583,792.
NEW DELHI, July 30 (Xinhua) -- India's health ministry Thursday morning said 775 new deaths due to COVID-19, besides fresh 52,123 positive cases, were reported during the past 24 hours across the country, taking the number of deaths to 34,968 and the total cases to 1,583,792.
This is the highest single day spike in terms of fresh COVID-19 cases in the country so far.
On Wednesday morning, the number of COVID-19 cases in the country was 1,531,669, and the death toll 34,193.
According to ministry officials, so far 1,020,582 people have been discharged from hospitals after showing improvement. This is the first time when the number of cured and discharged cases has crossed the one million mark.
The number of active cases in the country right now is 528,242, according to the ministry.
On Wednesday the Indian government announced the guidelines for "Unlock 3," which is slated to begin from Aug. 1. As per the guidelines, schools and educational institutions will remain shut till August 31. Restrictions on movement of individuals during night (or night curfew) have been removed.
Yoga institutes and gymnasiums will be allowed to open from Aug. 5, as international air travel of passengers has been permitted in a limited manner.
The Indian government is presently focusing on ramping up the number of tests carried out every day.
As per the figures of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), as many as 18,190,382 samples had been tested in the country by July 29, with 4,46,642 tested on Wednesday alone.
On Tuesday Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated three new testing labs which would help in increasing the number of tests by around 10,000 in cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.
In the wake of prevailing COVID-19 conditions, the Indian government has decided to extend the existing restrictions on limited domestic flight operations and caps on air fares till November 24. Currently, domestic flight operations are allowed to function at 45 percent of the total capacity. ■
