India on Friday became the fourth worst-affected country due to the pandemic as it added around 10,000 cases for the fourth consecutive day and surpassed the UK's tally to record 2,97,535 Covid-19 cases so far.
With a record highest single day spike of 10,956 cases, according to data released by Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India tipped UK which has 2,92,860 cases.
A total of 396 people died in the last 24 hours taking the total toll to 8,498, the Health Ministry data said.
For the fourth consecutive day, the number of recoveries (1,47,194) remained higher than the active ones (1,41,842).
Maharashtra remained the worst-hit state in the country with total inching close to the one lakh-mark with 97,148 cases, including 3,590 deaths and 46,078 recoveries.
It is followed by Tamil Nadu (38,716) and the national capital with 34,687 Covid-19 cases.
States with more than 10,000 cases include Gujarat with 22,032 cases and 1,385 deaths, Uttar Pradesh (12,088), Rajasthan (11,838), Madhya Pradesh (10,241).
In a little over a week, seven states have shown renewed surge as the lockdown was further eased -- Maharashtra (single day spike has doubled), Delhi (added over 1,800 new cases), Tamil Nadu, Haryana (three-fold), West Bengal , Jammu and Kashmir (nearly doubled) and Uttar Pradesh. India is now just over 2,000 cases less than the 3-lakh mark.
(With Inputs from IANS)