India's Covid tally nears 5 lakh-mark with highest single-day spike of 17,296 cases

With the highest single-day spike of 17,296 COVID-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 count reached 4,90,401 on Friday. The country also witnessed 407 deaths in the last 24 hours, which pushed the death toll to 15,301. Maharashtra remains the worst-affected state in the country with 1,47,741 cases.