India becomes ninth worst virus-hit country as 7,466 fresh cases detected
India today reported its highest 24-hour spike of novel coronavirus cases, with 7,466 recorded in a day, according to the country's health ministry.
This is the first time that more than 7,000 Covid-19 cases were detected across India in a 24-hour span, reports our New Delhi correspondent.
The last seven straight days saw more than 6,000 new cases per day.
The total number of cases is now 165,799 and the number of people who have recovered is 71,106.
The number of deaths in the past 24 hours is 175, pushing the total count to 4,706 so far.
Late on Thursday night, India crossed the 1.6 lakh coronavirus cases mark, making it the ninth worst-hit in the world.
The surge in cases came two days ahead of the scheduled end of the fourth phase of the nationwide lockdown on Sunday.
West Bengal too on Thursday registered the biggest one-day spike with 344 people testing positive, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 4,536.
As many as 223 people have succumbed to the disease in the state so far.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Fire Service Minister Sujit Bose tested positive for Covid-19, our correspondent reports quoting a well-placed source in the government.
Sujit Bose has been advised to stay in home quarantine after his test results came back positive, the source said.
A domestic help at the minister's residence was diagnosed with the disease, following which samples of Bose and his family members were sent for examination.
The reports, which arrived on Thursday night, showed Bose and one of his family members have contracted the virus, the source added.
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