According to health ministry, 941 people died due to the disease in the country in the last 24 hours (between Sunday and Monday). Meanwhile, the infection tally crossed 2.6 million after 57,981 new cases were added in the same period.

The number of fatalities crossed the 50,000-mark on Monday, according to the health ministry data.

The recoveries surged to 19,19,842, pushing the recovery rate to 72.51 per cent, the update at 8 am showed. The case fatality rate has declined to 1.92 per cent.

According to Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the total number of tests for detection of Covid-19 has crossed the three-crore mark in India.

The ICMR said that a total of 3,00,41,400 samples have been tested up to August 16 with 7,31,697 samples being tested on Sunday.

Having started with one laboratory at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune and then expanding to 100 laboratories around the beginning of the lockdown, the ICMR on June 23 validated the 1,000th testing lab.

Total labs in the country testing for Covid-19 now stand at 1,470 – out of this, 969 are government labs and 501 private, according to Union health minister Harsh Vardhan.

The number of new cases are constantly increasing across the world. South Korea reported 197 newly confirmed cases of the coronavirus on Monday, the fourth straight day of triple-digit daily increases, as health workers scramble to slow transmissions in the greater capital area where churches have emerged as major sources of infections.

Australia’s hard-hit Victoria state on Monday recorded its deadliest day of the pandemic with 25 coronavirus fatalities. The death toll surpasses the previous 24-hour record of 21 set on Wednesday last week.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, meanwhile, chose to delay national elections by four weeks as the country deals with a new coronavirus outbreak in its largest city, Auckland.