In a major development in coronavirus cases in the national capital, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Sunday said the national capital has hit the peak of the third wave of COVID-19 and the number of cases suggests it has been the worst so far.

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The government has increased the number of beds for COVID-19 patients in hospitals in Delhi, but there is no plan to rope in hotels and banquet halls, the minister said. "The third wave of COVID-19 is at its peak in Delhi. The number of cases suggests it is the worst wave so far. But the cases will come down soon," Jain said.

The minister attributed the increase in the number of cases to aggressive testing and contact-tracing. He, however, said laxity on the part of the people has been a major reason behind the spike in new cases. "Some people think nothing will happen to them if they don't wear a mask. They are wrong. Mask is the only medicine for COVID-19 till a vaccine is developed," Jain added.

Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 caseload went past 85 lakh, while the number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 78,68,968 pushing the national recovery rate to 92.49 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.

The total coronavirus cases mounted to 85,07,754 with 45,674 infections being reported in a day, while the death toll climbed to 1,26,121 with 559 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The case fatality rate stands at 1.48 per cent.

The number of active cases of COVID-19 remained below 6 lakh for the tenth consecutive day. There are 5,12,665 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country as on date which comprises 6.03 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23 and 40 lakh on September 5 . It went past 50 lakh on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11 and crossed 80 lakh on October 29.