India records world’s highest daily COVID-19 deaths after state revises numbers

Dead bodies of people who died due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), are seen piled up in an ambulance before their cremation at a crematorium in New Delhi, India. [Reuters]

India reported on Thursday the highest single-day death toll from COVID-19 in the world, at 6,148, after a big eastern state revised its figures to account for people who succumbed to the disease at home or in private hospitals.

The health department of Bihar, one of India's poorest states, revised its total COVID-19 related death toll on Wednesday to more than 9,400 from about 5,400.

The United States had recorded 5,444 COVID-19 deaths on Feb. 12.

India’s total COVID-19 case load now stands at 29.2 million after rising by 94,052 in the past 24 hours, while total fatalities are at 359,676, according to data from the health ministry.