COVID-19 death toll goes up to 149; 35 deaths in 24 hours
The death toll due to the novel coronavirus rose to 149 on Wednesday (April 8), with the country reporting 35 deaths in the past 24 hours alone, reports said.
According to Union Health Ministry data, the total number of infected cases stand at 5,194 now.
While the number of active COVID-19 cases is 4,643, as many as 401 people were cured and discharged and one had migrated, the ministry said.
The cases include 70 foreign nationals.
Reports say the spike in numbers may goad the Centre to extend the existing lockdown in the country, with chief ministers of several states pitching for the same during their video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday.
Maharashtra has reported 16 deaths since Tuesday, while two deaths each from Delhi, West Bengal, Haryana and Tamil Nadu and one from Andhra Pradesh have been reported.
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Maharashtra has reported the most coronavirus deaths at 64, followed by Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh at 13 each and Delhi at 9. Telengana, Punjab and Tamil Nadu have reported seven fatalities each. West Bengal has registered five deaths, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have reported four each. Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan have recorded three deaths each. Two deaths each have been reported from Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala.
Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Odisha have reported one fatality each, according to the health ministry data.
Lag in health ministry figures?
However, a PTI tally of figures reported by various states as on Tuesday 9.45 p.m. showed 5,192 testing positive across the country and at least 162 deaths. There has been a lag in the Union Health Ministry figures, compared to the numbers announced by different states, which officials attribute to procedural delays in assigning the cases to individual states. The highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 1,018, followed by Tamil Nadu at 690 and Delhi with 576 cases.
Telangana has reported 364 COVID-19 cases followed by Kerala at 336. Rajasthan has 328 cases, Uttar Pradesh has 326 and Andhra Pradesh reported 305 coronavirus cases. Novel coronavirus cases have risen to 229 in Madhya Pradesh, 175 in Karnataka and 165 in Gujarat. Haryana has 147 cases, Jammu and Kashmir has 116, West Bengal has 99 and Punjab has 91 positive patients so far.
Odisha has reported 42 coronavirus cases. Thirty- eight people were infected with the virus in Bihar while Uttarakhand has 31 patients and Assam 27.
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Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh have 18 cases each while Ladakh has 14 positive patients so far. Ten cases each have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Chhattisgarh. Goa has reported seven COVID-19 infections, followed by Puducherry at five cases. Jharkhand has reported four cases and Manipur two. Tripura, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have reported one case each.
“State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation,” the ministry said on its website.
(With inputs from agencies)
