India Records Highest Single Day COVID-19 Deaths at 4,529

India on Wednesday recorded 4,529 deaths due to COVID-19, the highest one-day fatalities since the start of the pandemic, taking the toll to 2,83,248.

The country's COVID-19 caseload has increased to 2,54,96,330 with 2,67,334 more people testing positive for the viral disease.

India has been registering more than 4,000 daily deaths due to the virus since May 12. This is the third consecutive day when the country logged less than 3 lakh infections in a day. The 24-hour count dropped below the 3 lakh-mark for the first time on April 21.

The total number of recoveries has climbed to 2,19,86,363 with 3,89,851 patients getting discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours. The active caseload in the country has declined to 32,26,719, the data updated at 8 am showed.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 32,03,01,177 samples have been tested up to May 18 with 20,08,296 samples being tested on Tuesday.

India has been grappling with a fatal second wave of the pandemic that is sweeping the country, claiming the lives of many people daily, with the issue like shortage vaccines and oxygen supply at various hospitals across the country adding to the woes.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that continuous efforts are being made to ramp up COVID-19 vaccine supply in a big way, asserting that attempts are on to provide states a 15-day advance schedule of the inoculation programme as it will allow them to prepare accordingly.

Speaking with state and district officials at a virtual meeting, he described them as "field commanders" in the fight against COVID-19 and said localized containment zones, aggressive testing and sharing correct and complete information with people are weapons to defeat it.

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