The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.
India saw a record single- day jump of 38,902 COVID-19 cases pushing its tally to 10,77,618 on Sunday, while the total number of recoveries increased to 6,77,422, according to the Union health ministry data.
The death toll due to the disease rose to 26,816 with new 543 fatalities even as 23,672 patients have recuperated in the past 24 hours, the highest so far in a day, the data updated at 8 am showed.
The ministry of health said the 11 most COVID-19 affected countries in the world -- the United States, Brazil, Russia, Peru, Chile, Mexico, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Iran, Pakistan, Spain -- together reported 8 times more cases and 14 times more deaths than India.
There are 3,73,379 active cases presently in the country.
The total number of confirmed cases includes foreigners.
This is the fourth consecutive day that COVID-19 cases have increased by more than 30,000.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, a cumulative total of 1,37,91,869 samples have been tested up to July 18 with 3,58,127 samples being tested on Saturday.
Of the 543 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, 144 are from Maharashtra, 93 from Karnataka, 88 from Tamil Nadu, 52 from Andhra Pradesh, 27 from West Bengal, 26 from Delhi, 24 from Uttar Pradesh, 17 from Haryana, 16 from Gujarat and nine from Madhya Pradesh.
Bihar, Punjab and Rajasthan have reported seven fatalities each followed by Telangana with six deaths, Jammu and Kashmir five, Odisha and Puducherry three each, Assam, Tripura and Kerala two each, while Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand have registered a fatality each.
Of the total 26,816 deaths reported so far, Maharashtra accounted for the highest 11,596 fatalities followed by Delhi with 3,597 deaths, Tamil Nadu 2,403, Gujarat 2,122, Karnataka 1,240, Uttar Pradesh 1,108, West Bengal 1,076, Madhya Pradesh 706 and Andhra Pradesh 586.
So far, 553 people have died of COVID-19 in Rajasthan, 409 in Telangana, 344 in Haryana, 246 in Punjab, 236 in Jammu and Kashmir, 208 in Bihar, 86 in Odisha, 53 in Assam, 52 in Uttarakhand, 46 in Jharkhand and 40 in Kerala.
Puducherry has registered 28 deaths, Chhattisgarh 24, Goa 21, Chandigarh 12, Himachal Pradesh 11, Tripura 5, Arunachal Pradesh 3, Meghalaya and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu two each, while Ladakh has reported one fatality.
The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.
Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases at 3,00,937 followed by Tamil Nadu at 1,65,714, Delhi at 1,21,582, Karnataka at 59,652, Gujarat at 47,390, Uttar Pradesh at 47,036, Andhra Pradesh at 44,609 and Telangana at 43,780.
The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 40,209 in West Bengal, 28,500 in Rajasthan, 25,547 in Haryana, 25,136 in Bihar, 22,918 in Assam and 21,763 in Madhya Pradesh.
Odisha has reported 16,701 infections, Jammu and Kashmir 13,198, Kerala 11,659, while Punjab has 9,792 cases.
A total of 5,342 have been infected by the virus in Jharkhand, 5,233 in Chhattisgarh, 4,276 in Uttarakhand, 3,484 in Goa, 2,654 in Tripura, 1,894 in Puducherry, 1,891 in Manipur, 1,457 in Himachal Pradesh and 1,159 in Ladakh.
Nagaland has recorded 978 COVID-19 cases, Chandigarh 700, Arunachal Pradesh 650 and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu together have reported 602 cases.
Meghalaya has reported 418 cases, Mizoram 284, Sikkim has registered 275 infections so far, while Andaman and Nicobar Islands has recorded 198 cases.
"Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR," the ministry said, adding, state-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation.
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