New Delhi, May 1 (IANS): India witnessed the highest spike of 4,01,999 fresh cases of Covid-19 and 3,523 fatalities due to coronavirus infection in the last 24 hours, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHF) said on Saturday.

It was the first time when India crossed four lakh figure of Covid cases in a day. For the last nine days, over three lakh Covid cases were being reported while over 3,000 casualties have been reported for the past four days. On Friday, India witnessed 3,498 deaths, second highest fatalities in a day.

India's total tally of total Covid-19 cases now stands at 1,91,64,969, the highest since the pandemic started in 2020, with 32,68,710 active cases and 2,11,853 deaths so far.

According to MoHF, 2,99,988 people have been discharged in the last 24 hours taking the total recoveries to 1,56,84,406.

The health ministry said that a total of 15,49,89,635 people have been vaccinated so far in the country, including 27,44,485 people administered vaccines in the last 24 hours.

Maharashtra reported a record high of 6,64,683 Covid-19 cases followed by Karnataka (3,82,710), Uttar Pradesh (3,10,783) and Kerala (3,04,074).

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, 28,83,37,385 samples have been tested up to April 29, 2021 for Covid-19, of these 19,45,299 samples were tested on Friday.