India recorded its highest single-day jump in newcoronavirus cases and deaths with 9,996 fresh infections and 357 patientsdying, taking the country's tally to nearly 2.8 lakh cases.

This is the ninth consecutive day that the country – fifth worst-hit by the pandemic – reported over 9,000 COVID-19 cases in a single day.

Morethan five million people across India have been tested for COVID-19 since thebeginning of the pandemic, according to the data of the Union Health Ministry.On Wednesday, a record 1,51,808 samples were tested, officials said.

A totalof 8,102 patients have died in India due to the highly infectious illness sofar. A majority of these deaths have been recorded from Maharashtra, thecountry's biggest coronavirus hotspot, where 3,483 patients have died so far.