August 2, 2020: India's COVID-19 tally crossed the 17-lakh mark on Sunday, just two days after it went past 16 lakh, with 54,735 cases being reported in a day, while the recoveries crossed the 11-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

The country now has 17,50,723 infections of the deadly virus which has affected more than 17.5 million people globally. With 853 COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, the number of deaths count has climbed to 37,364, the government said.

More than 11.45 lakh patients have recovered; the recovery rate stood at 65.43 per cent this morning. India has tested a total of 1,98,21,831 samples so far. The positivity rate - percentage of patients who have tested positive for coronavirus - stood at 11.81 per cent.

Maharashtra - the worst affected state from the infection - has a total of 1,49,214 active cases and 15,316 deaths. A total of 4,31,719 coronavirus cases have been recorded in the state up to Saturday, as per the state health department.

The number of COVID-19-related deaths in Tamil Nadu has reached 4,034. State capital Chennai -- one of the worst affected in the state -- has over one lakh infections.

With 1,40,933 infections, Andhra Pradesh has surpassed Delhi to become the third worst coronavirus-hit state in the country. The southern state reported 1,26,337 COVID-19 cases in July alone, registering an 865 per cent rise in the number of infections - the most by any state in the country.