NEW DELHI, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- India's COVID-19 tally reached 8,773,479 on Saturday as 44,684 new cases were registered across the country in the past 24 hours, said latest data released by the federal health ministry.
With 520 deaths since Friday morning, the total death toll in the country due to the pandemic reached 129,188, added the ministry's data.
Still there are 480,719 active COVID-19 cases in the country, while 8,163,572 people have been successfully cured and discharged from hospitals so far.
On Wednesday the number of active cases in the country had come down to below 500,000-mark after several months, and the first time when the number of people cured and discharged from hospitals crossed the eight million-mark.
Despite regular COVID-19 warnings and regulations from the government to people to maintain social distancing and wear face masks, huge crowds are being witnessed in market areas amid the ongoing festive season.
The festival of lights Diwali falls on Saturday. This year a strict ban has been imposed across the country on bursting of fire-crackers in a bid to control the rising air pollution levels which have been linked to COVID-19 cases.
By Friday a total of 124,031,230 COVID-19 tests had been conducted in the country, out of which 929,491 tests were conducted on Friday alone, according to the data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Saturday. Enditem
