India records 401,993 cases of COVID-19, 3,523 deaths in biggest one-day spike

In the last 24 hours, India recorded 401,993 cases of COVID-19, taking the nation’s tally of coronavirus cases to 19,164,969. The death toll from COVID-19 climbed to 211,853 after 3,523 people died across the country on Friday. 

There are currently 3,268,710 active cases of coronavirus in India. A total of 299,988 people recovered from the COVID-19 infection in India on Friday. The tally of recovered cases of COVID-19 in India now stands at 1,56,84,406.

The Indian Council of Medical Research on Saturday said 1,945,299 samples for COVID-19 were tested in the last 24 hours across the country. As of April 30, 288,337,385 samples for COVID-19 have been tested in India, the ICMR said.

India kicked off its mass COVID-19 vaccination programme on January 16 and at least 154,989,635 people have at least received a single shot of the COVID vaccine in the country till now. 

Covaxin, developed at Hyderabad’s Bharat Biotech, and Covishield, manufactured at the Pune-based Serum Institute, are the two vaccines being administered in India.

A third vaccine, Russia’s Sputnik V, has also been approved by India’s drug regulator for emergency use.