The number of coronavirus cases in Maharashtra — the worst-hit state in the country — crossed the two lakh-mark with 7,074 new cases on Saturday. The state has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in India, followed by Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Gujarat.

Delhi recorded 2,505 fresh coronavirus cases yesterday, taking the tally in the city to over 97,000, while the death count from the disease mounted to 3,004, authorities said. The COVID-19 positivity rate in the national capital has declined to 10. 58 per cent after rising to nearly 37 per cent. The average number of cases in the city-state has also dropped by almost 1,000 over the previous week, indicating a welcome trend, though experts have cautioned the people against lowering their guard.

The national capital’s recovery rate too has risen significantly crossing 70 per cent, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said. “Less and less people in Delhi are now requiring hospitalisation, more and more people are getting cured at home. Whereas there were around 2300 new patients daily last week, no of patients in hospital has gone down from 6200 to 5300. Today, 9900 corona beds are free,” Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted today.

After 17 days of intense lockdown, Tamil Nadu relaxed lockdown for Chennai while extending curbs for Madurai and nearby regions till July 12. Chennai, which is under tightened restrictions from June 19 to July 5 to help fight rising COVID-19 cases, would see easing of curbs from Monday.

Neighbouring Karnataka, meanwhile, has announced a total lockdown on Sundays. The southern state on Saturday reported its biggest single day spike of 1,839 new cases and 42 related fatalities, taking the total number of infections in the state to 21,549 and the death count to 335, the Health department said. A whopping 1,172 cases out of 1,839 fresh cases reported on Saturday were from Bengaluru Urban alone; while 24 of the 42 deaths were from the capital city.

West Bengal registered twin records of the highest single-day surge in COVID-19 fatalities and cases on Saturday, as 19 people died due to the disease and 743 more tested positive for the virus, the state health department said. The death count mounted to 736, while the state’s coronavirus tally shot up to 21,231, a bulletin released by the department said. The state has barred flights from six cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai and Ahmedabad – in Kolkata for two weeks starting Monday, to contain the virus.

In the northeast, the COVID-19 situation has turned grim in Assam with the state reporting its biggest ever single day spike on Saturday. With 1,202 new cases, Assam’s COVID-19 tally has crossed 11,000-mark. 777 of the new cases reported yesterday were from Guwahati alone. Guwahati,  which is the biggest city in the northeast, has seen close to 3,000 cases in the last 10 days.

The safety and interest of Indians is the topmost priority, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) clarified on Saturday after a memo from the agency triggered a backlash for setting August 15 as a target for developing a coronavirus vaccine, from both medical experts and the opposition. AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria was among those who had claimed that the deadlines for vaccine development are unrealistic.

The World Health Organization reported a record increase in global coronavirus cases on Saturday, with the total rising by 212,326 in 24 hours. The biggest increases were from the United States, Brazil and India, according to a daily report.

Global coronavirus cases exceeded 11 million on Friday, according to a Reuters tally, marking another milestone in the spread of the disease that has killed more than half a million people in seven months.