India on Thursday witnessed a record spike of 95,735 new COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day increase till date, taking the total tally to 44,65,863, the Union Health Ministry data revealed.

There were 1,172 deaths reported in the past 24 hours, which is also the highest fatality in a single day so far. India on Tuesday recorded 1,133 deaths and on July 29 there were 1,129. India's deaths per day are now crossing the US which is the worst-hit by the pandemic.

India is currently the second-worst hit country after the US since the first case was reported on January 30.

Out of the total 44,65,863 cases, 9,19,018 are active, 34,71,783 have recovered so far, while 75,062 have died.

The recovery rate stands at 77.77 per cent, the fatality rate at 1.69 per cent, the Ministry data showed.

Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh are the worst-hit states. They account for over 62 per cent of the active cases, according to the Ministry.

According to the data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India conducted a record 11,29,756 tests in a single day on Wednesday, taking the total number of samples tested so far to 5,29,34,433.

(IANS)