While the country recorded 4,01,993 new cases on May 1, it had registered 3,92,488 fresh cases on May 2.

Registering a steady increase, the active cases have increased to 34,13,642 comprising 17.13 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 81.77 per cent.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1, 62,93,003, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.10 per cent, the data stated.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19. India crossed the grim milestone of 1.50 crore on April 19.

According to the ICMR, 29,16,47,037 samples have been tested up to May 2 with 15,04,698 samples being tested on Sunday.

The 3,417 new fatalities include 669 from Maharashtra, 407 from Delhi, 288 from Uttar Pradesh, 217 from Karnataka, 199 from Chhattisgarh, 159 from Rajasthan, 157 from Punjab, 153 each from Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, 145 from Haryana and 115 from Jharkhand.

A total of 2,18,959 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 70,284 from Maharashtra, 16,966 from Delhi, 16,011 from Karnataka, 14,346 from Tamil Nadu, 13,162 from Uttar Pradesh, 11,539 from West Bengal, 9,317 from Punjab and 9,009 from Chhattisgarh.

The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

“Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.