India's records nearly 29,000 new COVID-19 cases, highest daily spike this year

NEW DELHI, March 17 (Xinhua) -- India's COVID-19 tally rose to 11,438,734 on Wednesday, as 28,903 cases were registered during the past 24 hours, the highest daily spike this year, said the latest data from the federal health ministry.

According to the official data, the death toll mounted to 159,044 as 188 COVID-19 patients died since Tuesday morning.

There are still 234,406 active cases in the country, while 11,045,284 people have been discharged so far from hospitals after medical treatment.

There was an increase of 10,974 active cases during the previous 24 hours, out of which a maximum of 8,267 were reported from the southwestern state of Maharashtra.

The number of daily active cases had been on the rise over the past few days, as another wave of COVID-19 looms large in India.

Till a few weeks ago, the number of daily cases had come down to below-10,000.

India's nationwide vaccination drive was kicked off on Jan. 16, and over 35 million people have been vaccinated across the country.

Meanwhile, 229,249,784 tests have been conducted till Tuesday, out of which 969,021 tests were conducted on Tuesday alone, said the latest data issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Wednesday.

The national capital Delhi, one of the most COVID-19 affected places in the country, has been witnessing fewer cases over the past several months. As many as 425 new cases and one death was registered in the national capital through Tuesday.

So far as many as 10,945 people have died in the national capital due to COVID-19, confirmed Delhi's health department. Enditem