New Delhi, April 26: India has recorded 1,990 new coronavirus (COVID-19) cases during a 24-hour period starting 8 am Saturday - its biggest single-day spike since the beginning of the pandemic - taking the total to 26,496. Out of 26,496 confirmed coronavirus cases, 19868 are still active. The death toll rose to 824 with 49 more people dying from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Sunday. Coronavirus Live India Tracker.

The number of recoveries increased to 5803 after 758 more patients recovered from the coronavirus infection in the past 24 hours. According to data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Maharashtra remained the worst-hit state where the number of coronavirus cases reached 7628, including 323 deaths - highest in the country. Gujarat recorded 3071 COVID-19 cases which include 133 deaths. When Will Coronavirus End in India? Here's What Health Ministry And The Latest Data by PIB Say.

Delhi reported 2625 coronavirus cases. Of them, 869 patients recovered and 54 died. According to the government, the country saw six percent growth in new cases on Saturday, which is the lowest daily growth rate recorded since the country crossed the mark of 100 cases, a day before it was close to 7.1 percent, and the average doubling rate of cases of the country is 9.1 days.

On March 21, COVID-19 cases in the country were doubling up in three days, but on March 23 the rate of doubling increased to 5 days. Within a month, the doubling rate of cases has reached 9.1 days from Friday 8 am to Saturday 8 am, the Health Ministry said. The government on Friday said that its robust surveillance system is closely monitoring around 9.45 lakh suspected COVID-19 cases across the country.

"Around 9.45 Lakh people are under the surveillance network at present;  prompt sampling of these people has been undertaken upon detection of symptoms," an official said. Starting from stopping international flights to block the transmission of the infection from abroad, graded steps, including the nationwide lockdown, have been taken to halt the internal chain of transmission of coronavirus, according to the Health Ministry.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 26, 2020 09:04 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).