NEW DELHI – India registered its biggest surge in coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in the last 24 hours with 19,906 new patients on Sunday, said the Health Ministry.
The tally of cases has now reached 528,859 in the country.
The death toll hit 16,095 after 410 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.
Guwahati, capital of northeastern state of Assam, will be placed under complete lockdown for a period of 14 days to curb the spread of coronavirus.
There will be no supply of vegetables and other essentials items for the first seven days, said the state government in a statement.
The western state of Maharashtra with 159,133 cases is still at number one in terms of Covid-19 cases in the country.
Delhi with 80,000 cases is the worst-affected city in the country. The total number of deaths has reached 2,558 in the capital.
Meanwhile, Indian government on Saturday allowed the use of Dexamethasone as an alternative choice to Methylprednisolone for managing moderate to severe cases of Covid-19. The change has been made after considering the latest available evidence and expert consultation, according to an official statement by the government.
India is the fourth worst-hit country in the world by the pandemic after the United States, Brazil and Russia.
1,109 more deaths in Brazil
On Sunday, Brazil reported 1,109 more coronavirus-linked fatalities over the past 24 hours.
The death toll in Brazil reached 57,070, according to Health Ministry data.
Some 38,693 new cases were reported from Brazil, bringing the total to 1,313,667.
Sao Paolo is the worst hit region of the country, with 265,581 cases and 14,263 deaths.
The virus claimed 9,789 lives in Rio de Janeiro, while 108,803 people are infected, making the city the second worst hit in the country.
Brazil is defined as the epicenter of the epidemic in Latin America.
In May, at least 4.2 million people showed symptoms similar to Covid-19, according to Brazil Geography and Statistics Institute.
More than 498,000 people have died in at least 188 countries and regions since the virus emerged in China last December.
More than 9.9 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries exceeding 5 million, according to figures compiled by US-based Johns Hopkins University. (Anadolu)
