India's COVID-19 tally crossed the 60-lakh mark with a spike of 82,170 new cases and 1,039 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on Monday.
As per the Ministry, India's tally stands at 60,74,703 including 9,62,640 active cases.
The number of cured and discharged or migrated patients is currently at 50,16,521, apart from 95,542 deaths due to the disease.
Maharashtra continues to be the worst affected by the pandemic with 2,73,646 active cases, 10,30,015 cured and discharged cases and 35,571 deaths.
Karnataka with 1,04,743 active cases is the next in the list. While 4,62,241 patients have been cured in the State, the disease has claimed 8,582 lives so far.
Andhra Pradesh with 64,876 active cases is also severely affected, however, over six lakh patients have been cured in the State, while 5,708 deaths have occurred due to it.
Meanwhile, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 7,19,67,230 samples have been tested up to September 27 for COVID-19.
Out of these 7,09,394 samples were tested yesterday.
On Sunday, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan reiterated the Narendra Modi government`s commitment to increase the expenditure on public health to 2.5 per cent of India`s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025.
"The Union Government is committed to increasing the public healthcare spending as a percentage of GDP from the existing 1.15 per cent to 2.5 per cent by 2025," he said in the third episode of `Sunday Samvaad`, a weekly interaction he has been holding with his social media followers every Sunday for the last three weeks.
Harsh Vardhan noted that the committed leap in the share means an actual rise of 345 per cent from the current expenditure.
