With 24,850 new cases and 613 deaths in the last 24 hours, India saw its biggest surge in Covid-19 cases, Anadolu Agency reported.

The country’s tally of infections rose to 673,165 as the death toll climbed to 19,268, according to Health Ministry data.

This is the ninth consecutive day that cases have risen by over 18,000. India is now only 800 cases behind Russia, the third worst-hit country globally.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that 9,789,066 samples have been tested for Covid-19 in the country till Saturday, of these 248,934 were tested yesterday.