New Delhi, Sep 12 (IANS): India on Saturday once again recorded an unprecedented spike in a single day as 97,570 fresh COVID cases were recorded taking the total tally to 46,59,984, the Union Health Ministry data revealed.

It is more than double the single-day spike in the US, which is the only country ahead of India.

There were 1,201 deaths reported in the past 24 hours, with the toll reaching 77,472 so far.

Out of the total cases, 9,58,316 are active, 36,24,196 have recovered so far. The first case was reported in the US on January 21, while in India it was on January 30. The US accounts for the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 64,43,048 and 1,92,968 respectively, according to the CSSE.

India has long breached the US' single-day tally of cases, but the US still holds the single-day deaths record of 2,494 on April 15.

Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh are the worst-hit states. They account for above 60 percent of the active cases, according to the Ministry.

The recovery rate stands at 77.65 percent, while the fatality rate is 1.67 percent, the Ministry data showed.

According to the data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India conducted a record of 10,91,251 tests in a single day on Friday, taking the total number of samples tested so far to 5,51,89,226.