Total cases exceeded 2.16 lakh in India with the country reporting its largest new cases spike today, of over 9,300 fresh cases. India is now directly behind Italy in the list of countries with highest number of people infected. This is at a time when India is set to ‘unlock’ its economy and business activities in most states.

Total confirmed cases: 2,16,919

Cases in the 24 hours preceding late update: 9304

Total recoveries: 1,04,107

Total deaths: 6,075

The Health Ministry On Tuesday denied allegations of under-reporting Covid-19 related deaths, saying India has one of the lowest mortality rates in the world. However, when looked at the absolute number of deaths, more people have died in India than anywhere else in Asia, excluding Iran, despite enforcing the largest lockdown in the world. The lockdown will start lifting in phases from June 8 when malls, restaurants and religious places will be allowed to reopen. States and union territories will still have a say in curbing certain activities if deemed necessary.

Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu added the most number of fresh cases today, contributing to India’s largest one-day spike. A the same time, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan are among the states with the highest test carried out in one day.

A record single-day spike of 1,513 cases took the Covid-19 tally in Delhi past the 23,000-mark on Wednesday and the death toll due to the disease climbed to 606, authorities said. The previous highest single-day spike of 1,298 cases was recorded on Tuesday. In a bulletin, the Delhi health department said the death toll due to corona virus has risen to 606 and the number of cases has mounted to 23,645 in the national capital.

To be sure, the daily jumps reported by states depends on multiple factors such as population, effectiveness of the lockdown, and most directly, the pace of testing. States which are conducting more tests are likely to report more cases compared to those which are conducting fewer tests. The Indian Council of Medical Research’s website shows that a total of 42,42,718 tests have been done with 1,39,485 of these done within 24 hours.

Singapore and China agreed to ease quarantine requirements for business and official travelers as countries in Asia slowly take steps to ease back to normal, while Japan reportedly debates scaling back its Olympics to avoid cancellation. In the U.S., New York reported the lowest daily death toll and hospitalization rate since its outbreak began, leading Governor Andrew Cuomo to declare victory over the virus. Total cases passed the 6.4-million mark globally while deaths exceeded 383,000.