India sees highest single-day COVID-19 spike; cases cross 1 lakh mark

The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 3,303 and the number of cases climbed to 1,06,750 in the country on Wednesday (May 20), registering an increase of 140 deaths and a record spike of 5,611 cases in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry.

The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 61,149, while 42,297 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said. “Thus, around 39.62 per cent patients have recovered so far,” a senior health ministry official said. The total confirmed cases include foreigners.

Of the 140 deaths reported since Monday morning, 76 were from Maharashtra, 25 from Gujarat, six each from West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, five each from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, three each from Tamil Nadu Karnataka and Telangana, two each from Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir and one each from Odhisha and Punjab.

Of the 3,303 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 1,325 deaths. Gujarat comes second with 719 deaths, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 258, West Bengal at 250, Delhi at 168, Rajasthan at 143, Uttar Pradesh at 123, Tamil Nadu at 84 and Andhra Pradesh at 52. The death toll reached 40 in Karnataka, 38 each in Punjab and Telangana.

Jammu and Kashmir has reported 17 fatalities due to the disease and Haryana 14. Bihar has registered nine deaths and Odisha five. Kerala and Assam have reported four deaths each. Jharkhand, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh each have recorded three COVID-19 fatalities, while Meghalaya, Uttarakhand and Puducherry have reported one fatality each, according to the data shared by the health ministry.

According to the ministry’s website, more than 70 per cent of the deaths are due to comorbidities, the existence of multiple disorders in the same person. As per the health ministry data updated in the morning, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 37,136.

It is followed by Tamil Nadu at 12,448, Gujarat at 12,140, Delhi at 10,554, Rajasthan at 5,845, Madhya Pradesh at 5,465 and Uttar Pradesh at 4,926. The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 2,961 in West Bengal, 2,532 in Andhra Pradesh and 2,002 in Punjab. It has risen to 1,634 in Telangana, 1,498 in Bihar, 1,397 in Karnataka, 1,317 in Jammu and Kashmir and 978 in Odisha. Haryana has reported 964 coronavirus infection cases so far, while Kerala has 642 cases.

A total of 231 people have been infected with the virus in Jharkhand and 200 in Chandigarh. Tripura has reported 173 cases, Assam has 142 cases, Uttarakhand has 111, Chhattisgarh has 101, Himachal Pradesh has 92 and Goa has registered 46 cases so far. Ladakh has reported 43 COVID-19 cases, while the Andaman and Nicobar Islands has registered 33 infections. Puducherry has registered 18 cases, Meghalaya 13 and Manipur nine. Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Dadar and Nagar Haveli have reported a case each till how.

“1,096 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.