A health worker collects swab samples for COVID-19 test in Hyderabad, India on Aug. 28, 2020. (Str/Xinhua)

 
India's COVID-19 tally surpassed 3.5 million, rising to 3,542,733 as the death toll rose to 63,498 on Sunday, showed the latest data released by the country's health ministry.

As many as 78,761 new cases and 948 deaths were recorded over the past 24 hours across the country.

There are still 765,302 active cases in India, while 2,713,933 people have been successfully cured and discharged from hospitals.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 41,461,636 had been tested till Saturday as 1,055,027 tests were conducted on Saturday alone.

This was the second occasion in India when more than 1 million samples were tested in a single day, as the country focuses on ramping up samples testing.

India will enter the Unlock 4 with effect from Tuesday and fresh guidelines to be followed during Unlock 4 were issued on Saturday.

According to the new guidelines, schools will remain shut through September though students of 9-12 standards have been allowed to approach their teachers at schools for guidance.

Metro Rail services would be allowed to start from Sept. 7 in a graded manner, and public functions, or other congregations, would be allowed with a ceiling of 100 people from Sept. 21.