India now ninth-worst COVID-19 hit country in world with 1,65,799 cases

The nationwide count of confirmed COVID-19 cases reached 1.68 lakh on Friday with a record number of nearly 7,500 people testing positive for the dreaded virus infection across states and union territories, making it the world’s ninth worst-hit country by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Health Ministry said the death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 4,706 in the country, while the number of cases climbed to 1,65,799, registering an increase of 175 deaths and a record jump of 7,466 cases since Thursday 8 am.

According to Worldometer, India has now overtaken Turkey as the ninth worst-hit country in terms of the total number of cases.

The Health Ministry said the number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 89,987 while recoveries also rose sharply to surpass 81,000 and one patient has migrated.

“Thus, around 42.89 per cent patients have recovered so far,” a senior Health Ministry official said.

The total confirmed cases include foreigners.

Of the 175 deaths reported since Thursday morning, 85 were in Maharashtra, 22 in Gujarat, 15 in Uttar Pradesh, 13 in Delhi, 12 in Tamil Nadu, eight in Madhya Pradesh, seven in Rajasthan, six in West Bengal, four in Telangana and one each in Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana.

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Of the total 4,706 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 1,982 deaths followed by Gujarat with 960 deaths, Madhya Pradesh with 321, Delhi with 316, West Bengal with 295, Uttar Pradesh with 197, Rajasthan with 180, Tamil Nadu with 145, Telangana with 67 and Andhra Pradesh with 59 deaths.

The death toll reached 47 in Karnataka and 40 in Punjab. Jammu and Kashmir has reported 27 fatalities due to the disease, Haryana has 19 deaths, Bihar has 15 while Odisha and Kerala have reported seven deaths each.

Himachal Pradesh has registered five COVID-19 fatalities, while Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh and Assam have recorded four deaths each so far.

Meghalaya has reported one COVID-19 fatality so far, according to the ministry data.
According to the ministry’s website, more than 70 per cent of the deaths are due to comorbidities.

According to the health ministry data updated in the morning, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 59,546 followed by Tamil Nadu at 19,372, Delhi at 16,281, Gujarat at 15,562, Rajasthan at 8,067, Madhya Pradesh at 7,453 and Uttar Pradesh at 7,170.

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 4,536 in West Bengal, 3,296 in Bihar and 3,251 in Andhra Pradesh.

It has risen to  2,533 in Karnataka, 2,256 in Telangana,  2,158 in Punjab, 2,036 in Jammu and Kashmir and 1,660 in Odisha.

Haryana has reported 1,504 coronavirus infection cases so far, while Kerala has 1,088 cases. A total of 856 people have been infected with the virus in Assam and 469 in Jharkhand.

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Uttarakhand has registered 500 cases, Chhattisgarh has 399, Chandigarh has reported 288 cases, Himachal Pradesh has 276, Tripura has 242, Ladakh has 73 and Goa has 69 cases so far.

Manipur has reported 55 COVID-19 cases, Puducherry has 51 instances of infection while Andaman and Nicobar Islands has registered 33 infections.

Meghalaya has registered 21 cases. Nagaland has reported 18 infections, Arunachal Pradesh reported three cases, Dadar and Nagar Haveli has two cases, while Mizoram and Sikkim have reported a case each till how.

“4,673 cases are being reassigned to states,” the ministry said on its website, adding, “Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR.”

“State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation,” it said.

(With inputs from agencies.)