India recorded the highest one-day rise of 1,975 coronavirus cases, making the total numbers go up by 26,917, according to latest figures by the Union Health Ministry.

The figures came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his wish that India was able to overcome the pandemic by Eid.

Expressing his thoughts at his radio show Mann Ki Baat, he hoped, that the pandemic would have been tackled by the time of Eid, clearing the way for the festival to be celebrated with the usual enthusiasm.

However, going by the latest figures, the number of deaths rose by 47 to 826, which is the second highest 24-hour spike in death. The highest spike, of 49 deaths, was seen on Sunday morning.

While Maharashtra continues to be the most affected state with 7,628 confirmed cases with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray saying that 80 per cent patients in the state are asymptomatic and 20 per have mild,serious or critical symptoms; Gujarat became the second Indian state to have more than 3,000 cases.

In Kolkata the situation remains grim as a senior government doctor involved in the fight against COVID-19 and a 34-year-old man, both diagnosed with the disease, died at a city hospital.

Dr.BiplabKanti Dasgupta, Assistant Director of the West Bengal Health Services, is the first doctor to die of COVID-19 in the state.The 60-year-old doctor had tested positive last week and was admitted to a hospital in Kolkata.

Another patient, who had tested positive for the disease earlier in the week, also died this Sunday.

“The 34-year-old man was admitted to the hospital on 23 April. He, too, had breathing problems and was put on ventilator. He died today morning,” sources said.

Coronavirus cases around the world rose to 2.9 million and deaths have doubled since April 10 — hitting nearly 203,000 people on Sunday.