New Delhi, Jul 19 (IANS): Close to 39,000 new cases were reported in past 24 hours taking India's total coronavirus cases stood at 10,77,618. With 543 deaths the toll stood at 26,816, Health Ministry data said.

According to Health Ministry data, as many as 6,77,422 patients have recovered, almost twice the number of active patients at 3,73,379. though India continues to be the third worst-affected country after the US and Brazil.

In the last 24 hours, 3,58,127 samples were tested, as the testing lab network continued to expand.

Maharashtra remained the worst-hit state, with 3,00,937 cases and 11,596 casualties. It crossed the three-lakh mark on Saturday with Mumbai reporting over 1 lakh coronavirus cases so far. It is followed by Tamil Nadu with total 1,65,714 cases, including 2,403 deaths.

The national capital, on the other hand is projecting an uplifting trend. For 17 of the last 20 days, including 11 in a row now, the number of people recovering from Covid in Delhi has remained higher than newly detected infections -- no other state has come close to such a trend.

The AIIMS Ethics Committee has given its nod for a human clinical trial of the indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine candidate Covaxin following which the premier hospital is likely to begin the exercise by enrolling healthy volunteers from Monday.

Globally, over 14 million people have been infected with the virus and 602,656 have died. It has taken just four days to climb to 14 million cases from 13 million recorded on July 13.